You Can't Run From The Past
by JateFanForever
Summary: AU/AH They were the perfect couple until tragedy pulled them apart. Five years later, Elena has moved on from her past and ready to start her future, but what she doesn't realize is that your past will always catch up to you. Please Read and Review. :
1. Chapter 1

_The sun began to set as the young couple continued to stroll along the beach. Hand and hand they made their way towards the pier, taking in the breath taking view. _

"_I wish that we could stay like this forever." Elena whispered, leaning her head on Damon's shoulder. She didn't like to think about their upcoming graduation because it was just one more reminder that they were going to be separated from each other. _

"_I promise you, Elena. We will always be together, no matter what happens." He told her, trying his best to reassure her with his soft words. He knew that she was worried about going away to college. They had been accepted to different schools that were across the country from each other. It was something that she had been worrying about since the start of their senior year. It nearly killed her to think that their separation would only tear them apart and they would no longer be together. It worried him, too, but he knew that their love was strong enough to withstand anything that life would throw at them. _

"_How do you know?" Elena asked, her voice started to crack and tears were threatening to fall from her eyes. _

_He didn't responded to her with words, but instead he pulled away from her and knelt to the ground. A gasp escaped her mouth as she began to realize what he was doing. _

"_Marry me?" He asked, pulling a small box out of his pocket. He had been planning on asking her since the first time he had ever laid eyes on her and now seemed like a perfect time to do so. He knew that she needed proof that he was in this for the long haul, even if they had to be separated for a while. _

"_I…we…we can't," She stumbled over her words in complete shock at the scene in front of her. She loved him, but she knew that he was going to go off to college and find a new girlfriend and she couldn't handle losing a fiancé, it would be easier to just lose a boyfriend._

"_Why not? I love you, you love me. What is the problem?" He questioned. In his mind, being engaged would only strengthen their relationship and make the time apart go faster. He wanted to be committed to her, committed to them. _

"_I can hardly deal with the thought of losing my boyfriend, but losing my fiancé would just be too much for me to handle." She told him, before she began to walk back towards the pier. The tears were now falling down her face as if it was a waterfall. She loved him more than anything, but she had to accept the fact that maybe they were not meant to be. _

"_Elena, wait!" Damon shouted, standing up and running towards her. "We can make this work!"_

"_Damon, I think that we need to face the fact that this relationship is over, and we both need to move on." She told him, her heart breaking with every word. _

"_Elena, I am not going to _let you do this. We can face anything together, I promise. Marry me and I promise that you will never regret it. I_ will spend the rest of my life making you happy, just give me a chance." He told her, gently grabbing her face so she would look at him. He whipped away her tears with his thumb and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. _

"_Okay." She whispered before pulling him into a passionate kiss. "What are we going to do about college?" _

"_I guess I will be going wherever you go," He said before pulling her back into another kiss. _

"_I can't believe we are going to get married!" She exclaimed, pulling away from this kiss. _

"Elena!" A distant voice yelled, waking her out of her dream. "Elena, your meeting with the publisher is in ten minutes." Bonnie told her, trying her best to stay calm.

"I'm sorry, I guess I dozed off." Elena told her. She lifted her head off the table and tried to get her bearings together before finally standing up.

"I know. By the way, that must have been some dream you had because you were crying a lot and talking about Damon. I never thought that I would hear you say that name again." Bonnie informed her as she handed Elena her briefcase and some folders.

"It was nothing." Elena said quickly ending the conversation before it even had time to start. It was true that Elena hated talking about Damon. They had married right out of high school and had lasted two years before Elena decided that their marriage was over. She moved to New York with her best friend Bonnie and never looked back.

"Okay, I can see that you don't want to talk about it." Bonnie said, dropping the subject. She could tell that whatever Elena had been dreaming about it was definitely bothering her, and she knew that Elena would confess sooner or later.

It was always a touchy subject with Elena. She didn't like to be reminded that her marriage had failed, or that she had ran away from it when things had gotten hard for them. It had started out perfect, Damon had transferred to Elena's school and they moved into the couples dorms. The first year and a half had been the best of her life, but then something happened, it was something that only and Damon and Elena knew about, and it was what tore their marriage apart. They never spoke a word about it after it happened, but they both knew that it was slowly tearing them apart. After dealing with the stress of things and fighting for six months straight, Elena decided to leave Mystic Falls and move on with her life.

It had been five years since she had left and she had never been back. Bonnie went back at least once a year and she kept Elena up to date with the latest town gossip, only leaving out the stuff about Damon. Elena seemed satisfied with everything that Bonnie told her, and she figured that she had no reason to return to her past.

These days, Elena was perfectly happy or at least that was the lie she told herself. She had the perfect boyfriend, he was a high profile businessman and he treated Elena as if she were a princess. His name was Jason and she had been seeing him for almost two years. They were New York City's golden couple, the press loved everything about the relationship, and they were lucky if they could go on a date without being photographed.

Elena's phone began to ring, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Hello." She answered without looking at the caller id.

"Hey, babe." Jason said on the other end. He had been out of town on business and wasn't expected to return for at least another week. "I just happened to be in town and I was wondering if you wanted to go out to eat tonight."

"Really?" Elena asked, trying not to sound too excited, even though she was about to burst with excitement. "Of course I want to go to dinner with you! I have missed you so much!"

"I have missed you so much, too. We have something very important to talk about tonight." He told her, his voice turning very serious. He really didn't use his serious voice with her, so it worried her that he said they needed to talk.

"Okay." She said. "I will meet you after my meeting."

He could sense the worry in her voice and tried to calm her down. "No reason to worry, it is a good thing. I will see you tonight. Good luck with your meeting, Babe." He told her, before hanging up the phone. She tried hard to calm down, but she couldn't shake the feel that something big was about to happen and she wasn't sure if it was going to be a good thing or not.

A/N: Please let me know if I should continue or not. I also would love to hear what you guys think is going to happen. This story is loosely based on a movie and I would love to hear your guesses on what you think it is. I will tell you guys at the end of the next chapter. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! Please review! : )


	2. Chapter 2

Elena felt like a chicken with its head cut off as she ran around her apartment trying to get ready for her date with Jason. She had rushed home after her meeting with the publisher and hadn't stopped running around since she had gotten there. After a quick shower, she made her way to her closet and tried to find something to wear. The task seemed impossible for her, everything she tried on she hated. After trying on almost everything in her closet, she finally decided on a short black dress that was low cut in the front. It wasn't super low, but it was just enough to insure that Jason would keep his eyes on her the whole night. Once she was dressed, she curled her hair and touched up her makeup.

She had been stressed out since her phone call with Jason. He wanted to talk about something very important and Elena was sure that he was going to dump her, and the thought of that was almost too much for her to take. The thoughts continued to race through her head, and no matter how hard she tried to calm down, she couldn't push the uneasy feeling she had. Jason had told her it was a good thing, but what if it he thought breaking up was a good thing for both of them. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Hello," Elena said as she opened the door to reveal a white headed man, dressed in a suit. Once she saw him, she knew exactly who he was and what he wanted.

"Hello, Ms. Gilbert, your limo is waiting downstairs." The man informed her.

She simply nodded at the man and grabbed her purse and coat before heading out the door. Once they reached the limo, the man opened the door for her and helped her in before he got in the driver's seat. She laughed at herself for thinking that she was going to have to drive herself to the restaurant. She should have known that Jason would send her a limo, he always did. However, most of the time he was the one to come get her and they would spend the ride to the restaurant snuggled up in the back of the limo, so she was very confused when he was nowhere to be found.

"Mr. Ames, where is Mr. McAllister?" Elena asked wondering what in the world was going on.

"Mr. McAllister had some business he had to take care of before dinner. He will be there as soon as he can, but he asked me to take you to the restaurant now so that you wouldn't have to wait on him." Mr. Ames answered.

If she wasn't already worried about her dinner tonight, she definitely was now. Jason always made sure that he was the one to pick her up from the apartment and take her to dinner. If he had unfinished business to attend to he always apologized and told her that he would pick her up when he had finished. Elena knew that she was being silly, overreacting just a bit, but she couldn't help but worry that something was up and she was sure that it was not good. The ride to the restaurant was very quiet, which only made Elena even more worried. It seemed like she had been in the limo for hours before it finally reached the restaurant.

"Ms. Gilbert, are you okay?" Mr. Ames asked her as he helped her out of the limo. "You are looking a little green."

"I'm fine, just nervous." She answered politely. The truth was she felt as if she was going to be sick, her stomach was doing flips.

"I'm sure that you have nothing to be nervous about, Ms. Gilbert. Mr. McAllister is head over heels in love with you." Mr. Ames tried to reassure her as they walked into the restaurant.

"How do you know?" She questioned.

"It is written all over his face." Mr. Ames answered. "Even a blind man could see that he loves you more than life itself. Don't worry, he is not going anywhere."

"Ah, Charles, thank you for getting my beautiful girlfriend here!" Jason interrupted their conversation as he made his way over to them. "I am so sorry that I couldn't be there to pick you up, I had something very important that I had to take care of." He apologized to Elena, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Elena could tell that Jason had gone all out on this dinner. The restaurant was covered with rose pedals and candles, and they were the only people who were there. She could feel her body began to relax as she took in the scene in front of her. It was the kind of thing that you would see in the movies right before some big proposal. It was in that moment that a light bulb went off in Elena's head. Jason didn't want to break up with her; he wanted to ask her to marry him. The fact that she had been so worried all afternoon now seemed very silly to her.

"Are you ready to eat?" Jason asked, wrapping his arm around her waist. She loved when he did this because it made her feel safe.

"Yeah, I am definitely ready." She answered. The words had a very different meaning for her. She was ready to eat, but more importantly she was ready for him to ask her to marry him. If she was being completely honest with herself, she had been ready since she had started dating him, or at least she thought so.

They made their way over to the table and began to look over the menu, trying to decide what they wanted to eat. Once they decided and ordered, they began to talk about their day. Elena told him all about her meeting with the publisher, and how they had decided to publish her book and they were hoping to have it out by the end of May. Jason reminded her of how proud he was of her, and began to tell her all about his business trip and how he had sealed the deal on his latest business venture. He also told her that his trip had been extended two weeks, so he was going to have to leave the next morning.

"Are you sure that you are going to be okay for another two weeks?" He asked her for what seemed to be the millionth time since he had told her about the trip. He was always worrying about her being alone, but she always managed to convince him that she would be fine.

"Of course I will. Besides what choice do I have?" She reassured him. "I can always call Bonnie and ask her to hang out if I get too lonely."

"Okay, but if you get too lonely, even with Bonnie, you are always welcome to fly to Los Angeles and stay with me." Jason informed her as he took her hand from across the table.

"I may have to take you up on that next week, but I have a lot of work to do this week." Elena chuckled.

They continued their conversation until their food arrived. They remained quite while eating, each absorbed in their own thoughts. Jason was thinking about how he was going to ask Elena to marry him and Elena about what exactly she was going to say. Once they had finished their dinner, Jason cleared his throat and began to talk once more.

"Elena, there is something really important that I need to talk to you about. It is actually the reason that I came back in town for the night." He started. "Over the past few weeks I have realized something very important. I have realized that I can't live without you. The past two weeks I have missed you more than I ever thought possible and I cannot imagine my life without you in it." He got up from his seat and knelt down to the ground on one knee.

"When I first met you, you were this young girl who was confused and hurt about whatever happened in that mysterious past of yours. You put a wall up around you and it was very hard for me to get in, but once I figured out how to climb over that wall, I discovered that you were the most amazing woman that I had ever met. You are the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with, the one that I want to grow old with. Ms. Elena Gilbert, will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me? Will you be my wife and the mother of my children?" He asked, pulling out a beautiful diamond ring.

"Yes! Yes, of course!" Elena said as tears started rolling down her face. "I can't believe that I was worried that you were going to break up with me." She told him, laughing a little at how stupid it had to sound to him.

"Break up with you? Is that why you looked like you were going to throw up when you got here?" He questioned, laughing a little bit.

"I know it sounds stupid, but I just love you so much and I am always worried about losing you." Elena said as she watched him put the ring on her left hand.

"You are never going to lose me, no matter what happens." He promised before pulling her into a passionate kiss. "So… when should we make the official announcement?" He asked, snapping her back into was then that she realized she had some unfinished business that was going to force her to visit the one place she had never wanted to visit again… Mystic Falls.

"If you don't mind, I would really like to wait a few weeks." She told him slipping the ring off of her finger and placing back in the box. "I need to go back home and tell my family. I haven't seen or talked to them in five years and I think that I better go tell them in person."

"That's great, I will go with you." Jason told her, but she began to shake her head letting him know that this was not a trip he wanted to take with her.

"I need to do this alone." She said, trying not to give too much information to him, but still enough to get the point across. "My family is complicated and I don't think it is the best idea to show up on the front step and announce to them that I am getting married. I need to spend some time with them and when the time is right I will tell them."

"Okay, we can wait until after you have told your family." Jason agreed as he placed the ring box back in his suit. "Why don't we go home and celebrate our engagement the right way?" He said giving her a suggestive smirk.

"What are we waiting for?" She said grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the door.

…..Two days later….

Elena knew that she wouldn't be able to go face her past without taking Bonnie. She needed her support and she knew that she would back out if she didn't take her. She couldn't believe that she was going back after all these years. She swore to herself that she would never go back to Mystic Falls, but now here she was about to get on a plane that would take her back to her past.

"Elena, are you sure that you can handle this?" Bonnie asked her as they made their way towards the airport terminal.

"What choice do I have, Bonnie? I have to settle things with him before I can marry Jason." Elena told her. "I don't want to do this, but I love Jason and if I want to marry him, I have to face this part of my past."

"Well, I guess that the next week is going to be very interesting." Bonnie let out a slight chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess so." Elena agreed. This was definitely going to be interesting.

A/N: Wow… 13 reviews, 21 alerts, and 14 favorites for the first chapter! You guys are awesome! Thank you so much. I am really surprised that so many of you guys guessed the right movie. It was in fact, Sweet Home Alabama. I am not going to follow the movie completely, but it will definitely have similarities. If you want to read more, then please click that little button that says review and let me know what you guys think. I hope that I didn't let you guys down in the chapter. I meant to make it longer, but I have to go somewhere in a few minutes and I had to end it there. The next chapters will be longer. If you guys have any suggestions for the story or any characters that you would like to see, then please let me know. Once again, thank you guys so much for all the wonderful reviews, they really push me to continue writing. Next chapter will be the Delena reunion!


	3. Chapter 3

Elena continued to stare out the window as she watched the plane make its final descent into the airport. She could feel her stomach start doing flips as the plane reached the ground. The closer that she got to Mystic Falls, the more anxious she got. It killed her to know that in a few hours she would be reliving her past and that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep running from it.

"Elena, are you sure that you are going to be able to go through with this?" Bonnie asked, her face was full of concern for her friend, she knew that this wasn't going to be easy. Bonnie had been Elena's rock when she left Mystic Falls five years ago. She had seen Elena crumble from all the pain and had been there for her every step of the way.

"Yeah, I guess so. I have to get it over with eventually, so the sooner the better." Elena answered. She didn't look away from the window as she spoke the words, she just continued to stare out and think about how she was going to handle all of this.

The flight had been just a little over two hours and Elena had spent the whole time trying to figure out how to approach the situation. She hadn't seen him in five years and she had no idea what she should say to him. Most people would apologize and try to work things out, but Elena wasn't sorry that she had left. It was selfish of her to leave, but it had to happen because it was the only way she would be able to heal. She still remembered the night she told him she was leaving and all the yelling, arguing, and tears it had caused.

"_Hey, honey," Damon said, walking into the kitchen as Elena continued to fix their dinner. He had been at work all day and had just gotten home. He gently wrapped his arms around her and gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek. "Are you okay?" He asked, noticing how her whole body tensed up at his touch. He knew that it had be awhile since they had been intimate, but he had no idea why she suddenly didn't like him touching her. _

"_Damon, we need to talk." Elena told him. She turned off the stove and turned around to face him. He could tell from her eyes that this was not going to be a good conversation. She had tears starting to form in her eyes as she took his hand and led him to the dinner table. Damon continued to stare at her as they both took their seats. "I am leaving Mystic Falls." She said once they were both seated. _

"_What? Why?" Damon asked in complete shock. He knew that they had been having problems, but things had started to seem like everything was going to be okay. _

"_I need to get away from here, Damon. I need a fresh start." She continued as she watched his face go from shocked to happy. She could tell that he thought she meant that they needed to leave Mystic Falls, but she had no intention of taking him with her. The problem wasn't Mystic Falls, the problem was Damon. She needed to be on her own, be an independent person again. Somewhere along their journey as a married couple, Elena had completely lost herself. _

"_Where are we going?" Damon asked her. "I have always wanted to live in California, or maybe Florida, or pretty much anywhere as long as I am with you." It was the truth, as long as he was with her, he was in paradise. _

"_No, Damon, you don't understand. I am leaving Mystic Falls. You can't go with me; I need to go on my own." She told him. She began to stand up and walk out of the room when Damon stopped her._

"_Why are you doing this?" He questioned. "I know the past few months haven't exactly been a piece of cake, but we have been dealing with it. Marriage takes hard work; you can't just run away when things start to get hard."_

"_You know why I need to go," She said, warning him not to take this conversation any further. He knew that she hated talking about the accident, but he also needed her to talk about it. It was the only way to start the healing process. "I can't continue to live like this, I need to start over."_

"_So that's it? You are just going to leave me and not even explain why you are doing this? After everything that we have been through, this is how you are going to treat me?" Damon asked. She could tell that his was starting to get mad and was about to lose his cool. He had been very patient with her over the past few months, but this was his breaking point. "Over the past few months, I have watched you almost destroy yourself over what happened and now you are just going to leave me? Elena, we can work this out. I know you blame yourself for what happened, but it wasn't your fault. Sometimes, these things just happen, but you can't just leave and think that it is going to get better, you have to stay and work through this." _

"_Damon, I can't stay. I know that you blame me for what happened, but you try hard not to show it. It was my fault, I know that and I can't continue to stay here and watch you act like it wasn't." Elena told him as she started to cry. She knew that he tried not to blame her, but the look in his eyes told her a different story. They had tried everything to work through this, marriage counseling, weekend getaways, everything. It was time to accept the fact that they were never going to be happy again, never going to be Damon and Elena again. _

"_I don't blame you for any of this!" Damon shouted. He was getting irritated at her because she wasn't listening. She was so stubborn, when she had he mind made up about something there was not reasoning with her. "I love you, Elena and I know that we have had hard times, but I am willing to work through them because we are worth it. Please, please don't do this."_

"_I'm sorry, Damon, but it is over." Elena whispered as she turned around and headed towards their bedroom. The suitcase that she had packed was lying on the bed ready to go, but as she went to grab it, she felt two strong hands stop her. "Damon, please just let me go."_

"_I can't do that," He said, his voice now much calmer than it had been minutes before. "I won't let you give up on us. I know that this isn't really what you want. I will do anything you want, but please just stay and we will figure things out together." _

"_Damon, I can't do this anymore, please just give me some space and let me figure things out on my own." She tried to make it sound like they had hope, but she knew in her heart that she wouldn't be returning. This was it for Elena Salvatore. She would never again be known as Elena Salvatore, she would be Elena Gilbert. The person she used to be before Damon. _

"_Okay, I will give you some space, but I will be right here waiting for you when you are finally ready to work things out." Damon told her as he released her hands. "I love you, Elena, always and forever. I will wait for you always. "_

"_Goodbye, Damon." She whispered as the tears began to fall faster than before. She gave him on final peck on the cheek before picking up the suitcase and walking out of his life. _

That was the last time she had talked to him, the last time she had seen him. She had never tried to work things out; she just walked away and never looked back. In fact she hadn't even let herself think about him until now and that was only because she had to.

"It is time to go." Bonnie informed her, snapping her from her thoughts. She began to look around and realize that they were the last people on the plane, everyone had already left.

"Sorry, I was just thinking." Elena apologized as she grabbed her carry-on bag and stood up from her seat. "I'm just not sure how I am going to do this." She sighed as they made their way off of the plane and into the airport.

"I'm sure that you will find a way." Bonnie tried to reassure her. "Do you need me to go with you?"

"No. I know that you want to visit Matt, Caroline, Tyler, and the rest of the gang, while you are in town. I will be fine." Elena answered, trying her best to sound convincing. The truth was that she had to do this alone because Bonnie didn't know anything about the break up. Elena had only told Bonnie that things just weren't working out and Elena and Damon had agreed to end their marriage. If Bonnie went with her, she would have to explain the accident and the real reason Damon and Elena had separated.

"Well, I will be a phone call away if you need me." Bonnie told her as the two headed to the baggage claim. "I know that it will be hard, but just think, after this you can marry Jason and forget about all of this." A sudden wave of sadness washed over Elena as Bonnie said those words. She couldn't figure out why she was sad about saying goodbye to her haunting past, but she did.

Elena tried to push away the strange feeling while they waited for their bags. It took ten minutes for their bags to finally show up and once they had them in their hands, they made their way to the car rental desk. After what seemed like forever, they finally arrived at their rental car and placed all of their bags into the trunk.

"Okay, so where do you want to go first?" Bonnie asked Elena as she started the car. "Did you want to go straight to your… I mean Damon's house or would you rather visit Jenna first?"

"I think that I need to see Jenna first, maybe she can calm my nerves down before I go talk to Damon." Elena answered as she buckled herself into the passenger's side. Her whole body felt as if she was shaking. She didn't want to have to face Damon after all of these years and explain to him why she had never came back and that she was getting married again.

"Well then I guess we are off to Jenna's." Bonnie said. She backed the car out of the parking space and began the thirty minute journey towards Mystic Falls.

…..Jenna's House….

"I'm not sure that I can do this," Elena said as they walked up to the front door of Jenna's house. "I haven't talk to Jenna in a long time and I'm not sure what to say.

"Just talk to her like you talk to me," Bonnie told her trying to calm her down. "She is your aunt, Elena. She loves you and she is going to be so happy to see you, I promise." Bonnie quickly rang the doorbell, so that Elena wouldn't have time to back out.

"Hello," A small blonde girl answered the door. Elena could tell that it was Jenna's daughter because she looked just like her.

"Jamie, who is at the door?" Jenna asked the young child as she made her way towards the front door. Jenna let out a gasp as she reached the door and saw Elena standing there. "Elena, is that really you?" Jenna asked with tears filling up in her eyes. "I have missed you so much!" Jenna pulled her into a warm embrace and held her close.

"Hey, Aunt Jenna," Elena whispered, pulling out of the embrace. "I hope you don't mind me stopping by." Elena was sure that Elena didn't mind at all based on the way she had greeted her, but she still wanted to make sure.

"Of course not, please come on in!" Jenna said as she pulled Elena in to the house. "We have so much to talk about!"

Jenna led Elena and Bonnie into the living room and the three women sat down on the couch. Elena noticed that the house didn't look any different since the last time she had been there. Jenna wasn't big on change and so Elena figured that had to be the reason everything looked the same.

"So what have you been up to the last five years? Bonnie tells me that you are an author, but I already knew that since I have all of your books." Jenna asked. She sounded like she was talk way too fast, but Elena knew that she was just excited to see her.

"Well I guess you know all about my career!" Elena chuckled. "I have an amazing boyfriend. His name is Jason and he owns a few businesses. We are actually engaged! He asked me a few days ago, but I asked him if we could keep it quiet because I wanted to tell you in person."

"That is wonderful, sweetie. I knew that you two were dating, but I had no idea you were this serious about each other." Jenna said as a worried look swept across her face. "Have you seen Damon yet? I mean that is why you are really here, isn't it?"Jenna asked before Elena had time to ask her about her facial expressions. Elena could tell from the look on Jenna's face that she was worried about what Damon's reaction would be.

"I haven't seen him yet. I'm not sure how to tell him about all of this." Elena sighed. "I mean things are over between us, but they are not finalized and that is exactly why I am here to finalize the divorce."

"This is not going to be good." Jenna whispered to herself, but unfortunately Elena heard. Once she saw the confused look on Elena's face, she knew that it was time to confess. "When Damon found out that you were dating Jason, he spent the next week in the bar. Alaric ended up dragging him out of there and he stayed here for a week just trying to get sober. Alaric finally convinced him that it was time to move on from you, but we all know that he never really has." Elena could feel her heart start to break. She couldn't believe that she had done this to Damon. She never meant to hurt him like this; she was only trying to escape the pain of her past.

"So… Are you and Alaric married now?" Elena asked trying to change the conversation. She didn't want to think about Damon or how much she had hurt him. In a few hours she was going to rob him of any hope he had had for their future and she couldn't bear to think about it.

"We have been married for almost four years now." Jenna proudly answered, showing Elena her beautiful diamond ring. "We got married a few months after I had Jamie."

"I am so happy for you, Jenna!" Elena exclaimed as she examined the ring and gave her aunt a hug. There was a part of Elena that felt sad that she had missed out on so much. It was like she was a stranger in her hometown and she knew that she only had herself to blame for that.

"Thanks." Jenna replied, pulling away from Elena's hug. "So are you guy's hungry? I can fix you some lunch if you want." Jenna told them.

"We should really be going. Bonnie is supposed to go hang out with Caroline and I have to talk to Damon." Elena told her. "We also have to figure out where we are going to stay."

"You can stay here in your old bedroom." Jenna told her. "I left it just the way you had it before you got married and moved out."

"Umm, okay." Elena reluctantly agreed. She wasn't sure how she was going to feel about sleeping in her old room again. It was a room that contained so many memories. She remembered when Damon would sneak in her window, trying not to get caught by Jenna. It was also the room where they had shared their first kiss and a few more firsts. It was a room haunted with memories from her past.

"Well, I guess I will see you two later." Jenna said as she walked them to the door. "Don't worry about what time you need to be back, take as long as you need." Jenna told them as they walked back towards their car.

"Bonnie, did you know about Damon?" Elena asked her friend once they were in the car.

"You mean about the drinking thing?" Bonnie asked. Elena simply nodded her head and waited for Bonnie's answer. "Yes, I did know. He was a complete wreck when news broke that you were dating Jason. The whole town thought that he had lost his mind. Alaric and Jenna helped him through it, but like Jenna said, he had never really moved on from you."

The two remained quite as they drove over to Damon's house. Neither one of them knew what to say or how to say it. Elena felt ashamed of herself, of how she had handled the situation. She knew that everybody blamed her for running away, but none of them knew the awful accident that had chased her out of town.

"You call me if you need me," Bonnie reminded her as she pulled into Damon's driveway. "I will drop whatever I am doing and pick you up." Elena gave a silent nod before shutting the car door and making her way towards the small house.

As she made her way up to the door, she felt her stomach start to flip again. She wasn't sure why she was so nervous, all she had to do was get Damon to sign the divorce papers and then she could go back to New York. After fighting with herself for a few minutes about whether to ring the doorbell or not, she finally reached her hand up to the doorbell and pressed it.

"Hello," A young blonde woman in a towel said, opening the door. Elena felt embarrassed by the fact that she had the wrong house. Although, Bonnie was the one that had brought her here, so this had to be where Damon lived.

"I'm sorry, I think I have the wrong house," Elena told her as she started to walk away, but a familiar voice stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Elena?" She heard Damon's voice say as he walked up behind the blonde. "Is that really you?"

At that moment, Elena wanted the ground to open up and swallow her. She had apparently interrupted some big moment between Damon and the blonde and now she was going to have to talk to Damon after five years of being gone. She knew that this was definitely not going to go over so well.

A/N: Cliffhanger! I'm sorry to leave it there, but I am going to make the reunion scene long and I didn't want to make this chapter too long, so I had to end it. If you want to find out what happens next, please press that little review button and tell me what you think! I would like to take the time to thank you guys for reading, reviewing, subscribing, and putting this story on your favorites. Your support means the world to me and it keeps me going. I know that I said that this chapter would be the reunion, but when I started writing it, I felt like I needed to have a flashback and explain some important things before they had their big reunion. I hope that I gave you guys a little preview of the reunion, at least she is at his house and he knows that she is back. Also, I am sorry that I can't tell you guys what the accident was, but I promise that you will find out later in the story, so just keep reading and reviewing and we will get there. Anyway, thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews. I have decided that I am going to read at least one story from every person who reviews and I will review it. So if you read and review my story, I will do the same for you. Next Chapter: Damon and Elena have their long awaited talk and some old friends start to show up. :D


	4. Chapter 4

Elena felt the words get stuck in her throat as she tried to answer him. The only thing she could do was simply nod and give him a small smile.

"What are you doing here?" Damon asked her, his voice gave away that he was still in shock that she was now standing in front of him. He had never moved on from her, but he had given up hope that she would one day return to him.

"I… umm… this was a mistake." Elena said stumbling over her words. She turned to walk away from him, but he stopped her before she could go any further. It reminded her of the day she had left him, he had stopped her the exact same way before.

"Wait, please," Damon pleaded with her. Even after all of these years, his eyes still had the power to make her go weak in the knees. "Why did you come back here?" He asked, his voice wasn't angry, but rather curious as to why she had come back.

"I don't think that we should talk about this in front of your friend." Elena told him, eyeing the young blonde.

"I was just getting ready to put my clothes on and leave." The blonde woman told her. Elena could tell that the blonde felt very awkward about the situation, especially being in only a towel. The woman made her way back into the house and down the hall towards the master bedroom.

"Why don't you come on in and sit down?" Damon suggested, gesturing towards the house. He seemed very friendly towards her, but she figured he was just shell shocked by her surprise return. They made their way into the house and in towards the living room.

"Umm, I guess I will see you later, Damon." The blonde said as she tried to rush out of the house.

"Amy, wait!" Damon stopped her before she had the chance to exit through the door. "I am just going to go say goodbye to Amy. I will be right back." Elena nodded and watched as Damon and Amy made their way back outside.

While she waited for Damon to return, Elena began to look around the house she once called home. It looked the same as it did eight years ago, almost nothing had changed. Damon and kept each and every one of their pictures in the exact place Elena had put them. She made her way over to the fireplace where she found a picture of their wedding day. It was one of the happiest days of Elena's life, it almost seemed like it was yesterday.

"_Elena, are you ready?" Aunt Jenna asked, walking into the church bathroom. "It is time." _

"_What if I am making a big mistake, Aunt Jenna? What if Damon is supposed to go to UCLA and not Duke? What if I am ruining his future?" Elena asked in full panic mode. She loved Damon more than life itself and she wanted to marry him more than anything, but she didn't want to ruin his future. _

"_Elena, I think that the only future Damon will be happy with is a future with you." Jenna told her. "Damon loves you and he would do anything for you. You two are young and while I don't care for the idea of you getting married so young, I know that you will work it out because you love each other. Love does conquer all; it is truly all you need."_

"_I know he loves me, but I love him and I want him to follow his dreams, not ditch them because if me." Elena continued to worry. "I just don't know if I can live with myself knowing that I kept him from his dreams."_

"_Elena, the only person who is going to keep Damon away from his dreams is Damon. It is his choice to make, not yours. He chose you, not UCLA."_

"_You are right, he did choose me. I know that he wants to be with me and I want to be with him, so why in the world am I standing here trying to talk myself out of marrying the most amazing man in the world?" Elena asked herself as she through her hands up in the air. She couldn't believe that she had tried to back out of marrying him. "I am ready to be Mrs. Damon Salvatore."_

_Once all the wedding party had made their way up towards the front of the church, Elena took Jeremy's arm. It almost killed her to think that her dad should have been giving her away, but instead it had to be Jeremy. Before her parent's accident, her dad had always talked about giving Elena away at her wedding, he knew that she would marry Damon and he of course always approved. _

"_Dad would be so proud of you, Elena." Jeremy told her as they waited for the sanctuary doors to open. "He always hoped that you would marry Damon." Tears began to well up in Elena's eyes, but she refused to let them fall._

"_Thanks, Jeremy." Elena replied. She was having a hard time keeping the tears from falling, but she really didn't want to ruin her makeup and she knew that once she started crying, she wouldn't be able to stop. _

_The sanctuary doors opened and the organ began to play the wedding march. Everyone in the room stood and turn towards the back of the church, watching Elena as Jeremy walked her down the aisle. Nobody could take their eyes off Elena. She wore a strapless white gown that hugged her perfect figure, it looked better on her than it would have on a model. Elena saw the smiles that were coming from the hundreds of people in the church and she tried her best to smile back at them, but inside she was a nervous wreck. She was completely happy, but overwhelmed all at the same time. _

_They finally reached the front of the church and Jeremy gave her away with a simple peck on the cheek, before whispering that he loved her and then returning to his seat. Damon grabbed her hand and together they made their way up on the stage towards the preacher. _

"_Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the marriage of Damon Salvatore and Elena Gilbert." The preacher announced as the guest took their seats. "If anyone sees any reason for these two to not be married, speak now or forever hold your peace."_

_As the preacher continued through the ceremony, Elena had a hard time understanding what the preacher was even saying because she was so wrapped up in Damon. She couldn't believe that she had ever tried to break up with him or that she had ever any doubt that she should marry him. Everything seem perfectly clear to her now, she and Damon were meant for each other. _

"_Are you ready for the vows?" The preacher asked snapping Elena back to reality. They both nodded and then Damon pulled out a piece of paper and began reading. _

"_Elena Gilbert, you are the most beautiful, caring, hardheaded, infuriating woman I have ever met. You are the only person in the world who has the power to make me happy and angry all at the same time. When you set your mind to something, there is nothing me or anyone else in the world can say or do to change your mind, so I am so glad that you made your mind up to marry me. Elena, I have been in love with you since the day I met you. I remember walking into Mrs. Johnson's Kindergarten class and seeing you sitting at a table with Caroline and Bonnie and thinking that I just had to pick on you so that you would notice me. You couldn't stand me at all, but I never gave up. I remember finally convincing you to be my friend and since that day, we have been inseparable. You were my first love and I want you to be my last. As we start this new chapter in our lives together, I promise you that I will love you every single day of our lives." Elena could feel the tears pouring down her face as Damon finished his vows. _

"_Elena, it's your turn." The preacher told her. She pulled out the vows that she had written and then tossed them on the ground. She knew that she could never even begin to say anything that would top what Damon had just said to her, so she decided to just speak from her heart. "Damon Salvatore, that was the most beautiful thing you have ever said to me." Elena laughed as tears ran down her face. "I remember when we first met and you did everything you could to make my life miserable. I went home crying every day of kindergarten year because you had invented new ways of torture. My daddy used to tell me that that is just what boys did when they liked girls and that you wouldn't stop until you got me. I guess that he was right because you never, ever gave up on me. You are my soul mate and my best friend. Damon, I love you with everything that I have in me and I can't wait to see where life takes us. Thank you for never giving up on me, even when I was stubborn and wanted to give up on us, you never let me. I promise to love you with all of my heart as long as I live."_

_After both Damon and Elena had given their speeches, there was not a dry eye in the church. Even the preachers seemed to be a little weepy as he tried to continue the ceremony._

"_Do you Damon Salvatore, take Elena Gilbert to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love, honor, and cherish all the days of your life?" The preacher asked. "I do." Damon answered giving Elena a huge smile._

"_Do you Elena Gilbert, take Damon Salvatore to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love, honor, and cherish all the days of your life?" The preacher asked again. "I do." Elena said returning the smile to Damon. _

"_Be the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride." The preacher hardly got the words out of his mouth before Damon pulled Elena into a passionate kiss. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to introduce Mr. and Mrs. Damon Salvatore."_

"It still seems like it was yesterday." Damon said, watching her look at their wedding photo. He had made his way back in the house a few minutes ago and had found her gazing at the picture.

"Yeah, it does." She agreed making her way back to the couch. "How long have you been inside?" She asked him.

"Just a few minutes, you seemed really into the picture, never took your eyes off of it." Damon answered. Elena felt her cheeks warm and she knew that she was blushing with embarrassment that he had caught her looking at the photo.

"I was just taking a trip down memory lane." She replied. Damon made her way over towards the couch and took the seat next to her. The continued to sit in silence until Damon finally cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Why did you come back here, Elena?" He asked her, his eyes pleading for the truth. "Why now after all these years?"

"I… We need to finalize the divorce. I know that you think that we should get a divorce, but I can't continue to lead you on like this anymore. I don't think that we can ever be Elena and Damon again and it is not fair to either one of us to go on pretending."

"Why are you so worried about this now?" Damon questioned, he could feel anger began to boil within him. "You have had eight years to divorce me, so why now?"

"Because it is time to let go of the past and move on." Elena answered.

"You moved on eight years ago." Damon snapped. "You want to know what your problem is… Your problem is that you are selfish; you want to do things your way and no one else's. You wanted to hold on to me because you were scared that your new life wouldn't work out and you could always have me to run back to, but now you are engaged to Jason McAllister and suddenly you don't need to drag me along anymore. You walked out on me after the accident because you were hurt, well what about me? I was hurting just as much, but I was willing to stay and get through it with you. You left me because you were selfish and didn't care about my pain." Elena felt her jaw drop as Damon finished his speech. She had no idea that he knew about Jason or the engagement and she had no idea how he really felt about her leaving. She knew that it had hurt him, but she had no idea that he blamed her for being selfish.

"How do you know about Jason?" She asked as tears began to form in her eyes.

"I watch TV just like everyone else."He answered. "I know that you two have been dating for two years and I figure the only reason you want to finalize what you started eight years ago is because you two are planning on getting married."

"Damon, it isn't like that." She said trying to fix the situation. "I wasn't trying to lead you on, I just… I just needed to hold on to you until I knew it was safe to let go. I can let you go now. I can let go of us."

"You think it is all about you, don't you?" He asked his voice was cold. "You don't get to decide when it's over. I'm not ready to let go of us." He made his way over towards the fireplace and took their wedding picture in his hands. "I guess I should be over you after the way you have treated me over the past eight years, but I am still in love with you." He let out a bitter laugh as he turned back towards her. "I'm not signing the papers."

"Damon, you have to!" She shouted. "I am getting married in a few months and I can't do that if I am still married to you." For the first time since she had arrived in Mystic Falls, she felt nothing but anger towards her husband.

"You made it eight years without a divorce a few more weeks won't hurt you." He told her. "I wasn't the only one you left, you know. So you are just going to have to hang out in town and reconnect with your friends for a few weeks and maybe after you remember who you are, we can start over."

"I hate your guts Damon Salvatore!" Elena screamed at him. She was furious at the fact that he was refusing to let her move on from their marriage.

"Back at you honey!" he said. "Now if you will excuse me, I have a date with Amy at the grill and I don't want to keep a beautiful lady waiting on me." He informed her as he walked out of the house.

A/N: I am so sorry that I haven't updated in a while, I have been really busy with work. I hope that this chapter didn't disappoint. I know that a lot of you hate Elena, but hopefully when you get some more flashbacks you will understand what she was thinking and you won't hate her as much. I am hoping that she will be able to redeem herself before my story ends because I would hate for you guys to hate her in the end. Anyway, I wanted to say thank you to all of my wonderful readers. I have 32 reviews, 1,319 hits, and have been put on 20 favorites list and 29 alert lists. That is the most I have ever gotten on a single story. You guys are absolutely wonderful and you inspire me to continue writing. I promise to review your stories. I know that I said that in the last chapter, but I have been slammed with work. I will get to them before I update again, I promise. Next chapter: More flashbacks, Delena drama, and maybe a confession or two. If you want to find out what happens all you have to do is click the review button. : ) I am going to try to update in a few days, so hopefully you won't have to wait long. Thank you guys!


	5. Chapter 5

Damon made his way into the Mystic Grill. He felt like everything around him was a complete blur. He smiled and greeted the people as he made his way over towards the bar, but he couldn't seem to snap back into reality. The woman he had loved since he was five years old, the woman who stole his heart and shattered it into a million little pieces, had once again stepped right back into his life. He knew that he should be mad at her, he should want more than anything to sign the papers and be done with her, but no matter how hard he had tried over the past eight years, he had never stopped loving her.

"Hey, Honey," Amy greeted him with a small peck on the lips. She could tell that he was out of it. He gave her a small smile and took his seat next to her. "I am guessing that your talk with Elena didn't go over so well?" She questioned.

"She wants to finalize a divorce." Damon answered. Amy could see how broken he looked. Amy wanted to feel happy about of this, but she knew that she would never be able to have Damon's heart. He had made that very clear to her when they first met.

_Amy Peterson made her way into the local bar. She had just moved to Mystic Falls and she decided that the best place to meet people would be at the bar. It was a small town and everybody seemed to be hanging out at the Mystic Grill. As she made her way into the small bar and grill a young man sitting at the bar caught her eye. She made her way over towards him and took the sit right next to him. _

"_I will have a beer," She told the bartender as she made herself comfortable on the bar stool. _

"_So what is a good looking guy like you doing here alone on a Friday night?" She asked the young man._

"_Well, my wife left me a few months ago and now I just spend my time hanging out here, drowning my sorrows in whatever I can convince the bartender to give me." He answered her, giving her a sarcastic smirk. _

"_Sounds like you have had it rough lately." Amy said. "You should get out and have some fun." _

"_Ha, fun. What in the world is that?" He laughed. "Are you offering to show me a good time?" _

"_Well, I guess I am." Amy responded. "I am Amy, by the way." She said extending her hand to shake his._

"_Damon." He answered grabbing her had. _

"_Well, Damon, are you ready to have some fun again." She asked him, giving him a suggestive smirk._

"_Let's just get one thing straight," He told her. "I am still in love with my wife and if she ever comes back here for me, I am going right back to her. You and I can be friends with benefits, but when it comes right down to it, I will always choose her."_

"_I completely understand. I am not looking for anything serious anyway, just looking to have fun and fulfill my needs." She told him as they gathered their belongings up and made their way out the door. _

"I am so sorry, Damon." Amy told him, giving him a sympathetic look. Over the seven and a half years that she had known him, she had come to love him more than she had ever expected. They had become really good friends and she couldn't stand to see him hurting like this.

"I am going to show her that it is not over yet." Damon said his voice sounded very determined and Amy knew that when Damon wanted something, he usually got it.

…...

Elena had finally finished getting her outfit ready. One way or the other she was going to get Damon to sign the divorce papers tonight. If Damon wanted her to play his game, then she would play and in the end she would be the winner.

An hour later she was making her way into the Mystic Grill. It was a place the she had never expected to visit again. It was filled with the ghosts of her past; the memories haunted her as she made her way over to the bar. She could see Amy and Damon laughing and drinking at the end of the bar and she felt a little jealousy towards the young blonde. To anyone who didn't know the situation, Amy and Damon would have seemed like a young couple in love, but Elena knew that it was all just an act. She could see right through Damon's façade. He was putting on a show for the world to see, but deep down he was hurting and Elena knew that.

"Elena, is that really you?" A voice asked from behind her. Turning around she came face to face with Stefan. She couldn't believe that he was being so friendly towards him after all the hurt she had caused his brother.

"Hey, Stefan," Elena greeted as he pulled her into a big embrace. She had always been really close to Stefan; he had been like her brother since they were five.

"How is my favorite sister-in-law?" He asked her as they pulled away from each other.

"Hopefully it will be ex sister-in-law." Elena told him. "I have been hanging in there. How about you?"

"Well, I am engaged, so I guess that speaks for itself." Stefan told her as a huge grin appeared on his face.

"It is about time!" Elena exclaimed as she hugged him once again. "So where is the lucky girl?"

"Katherine is at home. You know she never really liked the party scene." Stefan told her. "So are you and Damon really getting a divorce?" He asked her, trying to wrap him mind around everything.

"Well, I am trying to get him to sign the papers, but he is being stubborn." Elena sighed. She knew that it killed Damon to think about getting a divorce, but she needed to be done with this, she needed to move on from the mess that she had created.

"Good luck with that!" Stefan said with a slight laugh. "He is still completely in love with you and I don't think that is ever going to change." Stefan gave her one last hug before making his way back into the crowd. "Have fun, Elena!"

Elena took her seat at the bar and signaled for the bartender to come over to her. She knew that drinking probably wasn't the best idea, but she needed a distraction from the stress of her life.

"I will have a Margarita, please." She told the man behind the counter. She remembered the days when her good friend Matt was the bartender. It seemed like ages ago that he stood behind the bar taking her drink orders. The bartender had her drink to her within minutes and she consumed it within seconds. She ordered another one as she continued to watch Damon and Amy make out at the opposite end of the bar. After she had consumed five Margaritas, she made her way over to Damon.

"Heeyy, Damy." She slurred. "Wanna dance with me?" She knew that she was completely out of her mind, but seeing him with Amy had made her snap. It wasn't fair for her to be mad at him because she was with Jason now and Damon was free to be with anyone he wanted, but she still couldn't help feeling jealous.

"How much have you had to drink, Elena?" Damon questioned as he watched her stumble around in front of him.

"Four, five, I lost count." Elena giggled as she pulled Damon out of his seat and led him towards the dance floor.

"You were always such a fun drunk." Damon told her as he put his hand on her waist, trying his best to keep her steady. "Why are you drinking tonight?" He asked her, wondering what had gotten into her.

"I just needed to relax and stop stressing." Elena answered. "I hate seeing you with her. I know that it shouldn't bother me, but it does." She couldn't stop the words from coming out of her mouth and she knew that she was really going to regret this in the morning.

"I hate seeing pictures of you with that Jason guy." Damon whispered in her ear. Elena giggled as his breathe tickled her ear. She could feel the sparks of electricity fly through her as they continued to dance close to each other. She hadn't felt this way in a long time. Elena knew that she should stop this from going any further, but she didn't want to. She wanted to feel close to him one last time before it was over.

She remembered dancing with him at their wedding. How he had held her close to him and how it seemed like they were the only two in the room.

"_I love you, Mrs. Salvatore." Damon said as they danced around the dance floor for their first official dance as husband and wife. They had only been married for a few hours, but her new name seemed to roll right off of his tongue as if it had been her name all along. _

"_I love you, too." She told him giving him a peck on the lips. She absolutely loved the way she felt when she was in his arms. She felt safe, life nothing could tear them apart. "I am so happy that I married you." _

"_I promise that I am going to spend the rest of my life trying to make you happy." He told her as the music began to die down. _

"_I promise to never stop loving you." She told him as they stopped dancing and the crowd began to cheer. _

"What are you going to do about it?" She teased as he continued to twirl her around the dance floor. She wondered what he would do about Jason. Would he let her go marry him or would he do something about his feelings for her. Would he really refuse to sign the papers or would her let her go because it was what would make her happy.

"I am not going to do anything about it?" He answered trying his best to ignore her suggestive actions. He wanted more than anything to be with her, but he was not going to take advantage of the fact that she was drunk. He wanted to be with her because she loved him, not because she was too drunk to make good decisions.

"Dammmyyy," She slurred his name in her cute voice. "I know you want me." She may have been drunk out of her mind, but she knew that he wanted her and though she would never admit it to herself, she wanted him too.

"Why did you leave me?" Damon asked, he voice became very serious as he asked her the one questioned that he had been holding in for eight years. "I thought that things were getting better, but then you just left me."

"I don't think we should talk about this right now because I am drunk and I might say things that I shouldn't." Elena giggled as she pulled him even closer to him.

"You are so drunk that you can barely stand up, but you can still refuse to talk about a very important situation because you are afraid you will actually tell me the truth?" Damon questioned. He couldn't believe that she could be the selfish with him. He had a right to know why she had left him the way she did.

"I don't want to bring up the past, Damon." She said as tears started to form in her eyes. "I just want to dance close to you and pretend that things are okay, just for tonight."

"They are not okay, Elena. I have a right to know why you left me!" Damon was starting to lose his cool with her. He couldn't believe that she would come to the bar, get completely wasted, and start messing with his feelings for her, all because she wanted to pretend that things were okay for tonight.

"You know exactly why I left you!" Elena shouted as she pulled away from him. The music had stopped playing and everyone was watching the scene as it played out in front of them. "You locked me up in that hospital! You locked me up and told me that you were getting me help, but it didn't help. It didn't help me!" She screamed as the tears began to pour down her face.

"Elena, you needed help. After the accident you blamed yourself so much that you turned to alcohol to help you through it and that only made the situation worse." Damon told her. He tried his best to calm her down, but he knew that when she got drunk like this, it was nearly impossible to talk to her.

"I didn't mean to hurt you." She said, her voice was barely a whisper. "I didn't mean to kill him." She sobbed. Damon could tell that she was about to lose it and he pulled her into his arms. He looked up at all of the people in the grill and gave them an apologetic look as he led Elena out of the grill.

"You didn't kill him, Elena. These things just happen." Damon told her once they were outside.

"It was all my fault and I knew that you blamed me for it, so once I was out of the hospital, I just packed up and left." Elena confessed as she tried to get her crying under control. "I felt like you put me in that rehab as a punishment for what I did and I knew that you were never going to forgive me for it."

"Elena, I only put you in rehab because you were going to drink yourself to death and you also refused to eat anything. I didn't want to lose you, so I tried to get you help. It killed me to see you like that." He told her as he lifted her chin up so she could look him in the eyes.

"I have made such a mess of things, Damon. I know that you still love me, but I think that we should move on… it is what is best for both of us. I will always love you, Damon, but it is time to accept that we can never go back." She told him as more tears began to fall down her face.

"Elena, I am never going to give up on you." Damon told her. "I don't care about our past, we can still have a future together and I am going to prove it to you."

"I killed him, Damon. It was my fault that he died. I know that you say that you can forgive me for that, but I can't. I'm sorry, Damon."

"No, Elena, you don't get to decide this all on your own." Damon told her. He was once again starting to lose his cool with her. She didn't get to play with his emotions and bring up the past and then leave him once again. She didn't get to hurt him again. He would show her that they still had something worth fighting for.

A/N: Thank you guys so much for all the wonderful reviews. I tried to read your stories and review them, but a lot of you haven't written any stories, so I couldn't review them. Anyway, thank you guys for reviewing this story, it really motivates me to keep writing. I am sorry that I can't update more, but I have a crazy work schedule during the week, so I can only update on the weekends.

I hope that this chapter made sense to you guys. Basically, Elena got really drunk and confessed to still loving Damon and also confessed her feelings about the accident. I know that you guys are probably confused about the whole history of it, but I will provide more flashbacks to give you a better idea of what happened to drive them apart. I don't want to give too much away because I think that it needs to be told in pieces. I am really excited for the next few chapters because you are finally going to get some answers about what happened. Does anyone want to guess what happened? Do you know what Elena was talking about? I would love to hear what you guys think. : ) I hope you guys understand the Amy/Damon relationship. They are basically friends with benefits and nothing more. I know that it may seem weird for Damon to do something like that, but I promise that we are going to get to see more of his flashbacks and you will see why he handle that situation the way he did. Next Chapter: More flashbacks, more drama, and a surprise or two. Maybe a MAJOR Delena moment, if I get enough reviews. If you want to find out what happens next, push the little review button and tell me how I am doing.

By the way, did you notice the reference from last week's episode? I love how he will always choose her. : )


	6. Chapter 6

The sunlight streamed into the room as Elena opened her eyes. Her head felt like it would explode if she made even the slightest movement. It had been years since she had been this hung over and she now remembered why. Forcing herself to sit up, she realized that she was in a bed that she hadn't been in for eight years. She began to panic and tried to recall her actions from the previous night, but the only thing she could recall was the fight she had with Damon at the grill. Surely she wasn't stupid enough to sleep with him, but she couldn't seem to remember if she had or not.

"Good morning, sleepy head." Damon said making his way into the bedroom. "Or I guess I should say afternoon."

"What happened?" Elena asked. Her voice sounded awful, almost like she had a cold, but it was just from all the screaming that she had done the night before. Her heart began to race as she waited for Damon to explain to her what she was doing in his bed.

"Relax, we didn't sleep together, even though you wanted to." He told her, sensing her panic. "You were completely wasted last night, so I brought you home and let you sleep in my bed. I figured that you wouldn't want Jenna to see you drunk like that." Damon told her. He placed a tray of breakfast foods, a bottle of water, and two Ibuprofens in front of her. "You may want to take these to help with the horrible headache I assume you have."She simple nodded and took the medicine from him.

"I am sorry that I acted like that." She apologized. "I just don't know what to do anymore. I love you, but you deserve so much better than me. I'm sorry for hurting you the way that I did and for putting you through all of this." She could feel the tears roll down her cheek as the words came out of her mouth.

"I've got to go meet Alaric at the Grill." Damon said before she could continue her little speech. He couldn't deal with another argument about their past or their future divorce. He knew he had to get out of the house before she said more words that she could never take back. The trip down memory lane was too much for Damon at the moment, he felt as though he was going crazy. If she continued to act this way, he was going to start drinking again, and he knew that he shouldn't. "I hope you feel better, Elena." And with that, he made his way out the door, leaving Elena alone in her thoughts.

….

"So how is Elena?" Alaric asked, as Damon sat in the seat next to him. "She seemed really out of it last night. I haven't seen her that messed up since the accident."

"She is fine." Damon answered as he signaled the bartender over to him. "I would like a beer."

"What exactly does that mean?" Alaric asked.

"It means that she is still Elena. It means she is still the same cold and heartless person that she was eight years ago. It means that she is the crazy, beautiful girl that I fell in love with when I was five years old and I will be in love with for the rest of my life." Damon answered. "And the crazy thing is that I still love her, even after everything that she had put me through. I still miss holding her every night, kissing her, just being with her. I still love her just as much as I did when we first met. I would still do anything for her. I feel like I am losing my mind. I am out of control. " He sighed before taking a drink of his beer.

"Love is a crazy thing." Alaric said. "Maybe you should just sign the papers and let her go. She is not worth all the drinking and all the pain."

"She will always be worth it. Always." Damon told him. "I can't let her go. I promised to love her forever and that is exactly what I am going to do. She may think that I deserve better, and she is probably right, but I know what I want and I want her. I want her for the rest of my life and one way or the other, I will have her for the rest of my life."

….

_Elena read the stick again, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was the one word that was about to change Damon and Elena's world. Pregnant. They hadn't been trying to have a baby, but apparently life had other plans for them. _ _Elena sat and stared at the stick for what seemed like hours when she was snapped out of her thoughts by the front door._

"_Elena! Elena, are you home?" She heard Damon call out. She tried to answer, but nothing would come out. "Elena?" She heard him say again as he knocked on the bathroom door. Pulling herself up off of the side of the bathtub, she made her way over to the door. She wasn't sure how she was going to tell him the news. She knew that he would be beyond thrilled about it, but she wanted to make sure that she told him the right way. She couldn't wait to see the look on his face when she told him that he was going to be a father. It had been something that he had dreamed of his whole life and now she was finally making his dreams come true. _

"_Elena, what's wrong?" Damon asked, noticing her tears as she opened the door. "Why are you crying? What happened?" She couldn't help but to let out a small laugh as she watched him panic. "Why are you laughing?" He asked now confused by her actions._

"_Damon, maybe you should sit down." She told him as she led him to their bed. She could see that he was confused and he needed her to answer his many questions. "I have some news." She said. "I figured out why I have been so sick for the past few days."_

"_What is it, Elena? Is it bad?" He asked before she could finish telling him the news. _

"_Actually it is a good thing, an unexpected thing, but a great thing." She told him as a huge smile lit up her face. "You are going to be a wonderful father." She said hoping that he would get the hint. _

"_What does that have to do with you being sick?" He asked as she laughed at how clueless he was. "I just don't understand how you being sick is going to make me a wonderful fa-fa-father? Are you telling me that we are going to have a baby?" He asked as it finally hit him. _

"_Yes, that it exactly what I am trying to tell you," She said as tears of joy began to fall from her face. "You are going to be a daddy."_

"_You just made me the happiest man alive." He told her before pulling her into a big hug. "We should tell all of our friends!" He exclaimed as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. _

"_I think that we should wait before we tell them." Elena said as she pulled the phone out of his hands. "I would like to keep this between us until we know what we are having and I am a little bit further along. Let's just enjoy the news for awhile before we get everybody involved. Once they find out, they are never _

"_Whatever you want, My Love. I'm not sure how long I can keep a secret like this; it is going to be so hard." He told her as they both let out a laugh. "Hello, little baby." He whispered, bending down towards her stomach. "Daddy can't wait to meet you!"_

….

"So I heard about last night," Bonnie told Elena as they made their way into the Grill. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Elena answered without hesitation. "I got a little drunk, said some things I shouldn't have, and made myself look like a fool. I really don't want to talk about it." Elena massaged the temples of her head, trying desperately to get rid of her headache.

"Caroline told me that you were saying that you killed someone. What was that all about?" Bonnie asked continuing to push the subject. Bonnie had tried to stay out of Elena's personal issues with Damon, but now more than ever, she wanted to know what had happened eight years before. What had happened that caused Elena to leave Damon and never look back?

"Bonnie, I said that I don't want to talk about it, Okay?" Elena snapped. "Can you please just drop the subject?"

"No, Elena, I can't." Bonnie said, she was starting to lose her patients with Elena. "Eight years ago you asked me to go to New York with you. I never questioned what happened between you and Damon, I just tried my very best to support your decision to leave. I figured that you would open up to me eventually and that we would come back to Mystic Falls after you had had some space, but you never did. I want to know what happened to you eight years ago. After the accident, you suddenly decided to start drinking and acting crazy. I was worried sick about you. Damon put you in that rehab center and when you came out everything seemed to be fine, but then two months later you decided to run away to New York. What in the world happened?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you!" Elena shouted as she stood up from the table. "People change, okay? I am not the same person I was eight years ago. That girl was young and stupid. She hurt a lot of people and I can never go back and fix that, so I have decided to just move on from it. As soon as Damon signs the divorce papers, I will be back on my way to New York. I care about you Bonnie, but I can't tell you what happened because I don't want to relive the past I just want to move on from it." As soon as she was done talking she made her way out of the Grill.

So many thoughts raced through her head as she made her way down the street. She wasn't sure where she was going she just let her feet carry her there. It killed her to know that she had hurt every single person that she loved. She had never meant to hurt them, but she had hurt them just the same. Eight years ago, she had been a very selfish person. She had wanted to escape the pain that she had been through she had wanted to escape this world that had no longer made since to her. After the accident and the rehab people looked at her differently, they looked at her with pity and some of them with shame. She had messed up and no one was ever going to let her forget that.

Snapping out of her thoughts, she realized where her feet had taken her. She was standing in front of the Mystic Falls Park. It was a place she knew all too well. Damon used to take her here after their dates and they would spend the time looking up at the stars and talk about their future together. It was the place that Damon had told her that he wanted to be with her forever. She could almost remember it like it was yesterday.

"_Let's play a game," Elena suggested as they unfolded the blanket and placed it on the ground. _

"_What kind of game?" Damon asked her. They sat down on the blanket and snuggled up together as they looked up at the stars._

"_Where do you see yourself in ten years," Elena told him, snuggle closer to him._

"_I see myself wherever you are," He said placing a kiss on her forehead. _

"_Seriously, Damon, where do you see your life going in ten years?" She asked again, looking up at his face._

"_I am serious," He answered as a confused looked appeared on her face. "I want to be with you forever. I can see myself with you in ten years. We are married, have two kids and one on the way, Damon Jr., Gracie Ann, and a baby boy that we have yet to name." Elena laughed as she listened to Damon tell her all about their future together. "You are a stay at home mom, but in your spare time you like to write books. One day they will be published, but for now you just enjoy being a mom. We still live in Mystic Falls and hang out with all of our friends and every Friday night we sneak off to the park to spend some one on one time together." He told her giving her a suggestive smirk. _

"_That sounds too good to be true." Elena said as he finished telling her their future. "How can you be sure that we will still be together?"_

"_Because we are meant to be, I can feel it. I want to be with you forever." Damon told her as he pulled her into a passionate kiss._

"_Forever." She agreed once they broke apart. _

"Brings back some good memories, huh?" A voice asked, snapping Elena out of her thoughts. She looked up to find Damon standing in front of her.

"Yeah, I guess it does." She agreed watching him take a seat next to her. "What are you doing here?"

"I come here to think. It helps me remember the happy times with you and I try to focus on those instead of the bad ones." He told her. "My favorite memory is the time I gave you your first kiss. Do you remember that?"

"How could I forget that?" She said with a laugh. "You chased me around the whole park making kissing noises."

"You loved every minute of it. Don't even try to deny it!" He chuckled. "You gave yourself ten cootie shots and then ran over and told on me."

"Well, I was only five." Elena tried to defend herself. "What was I supposed to do?"

"You could've kissed me back." Damon answered with a grin. "I guess it took you a little bit longer to realize that we were meant to be." Elena felt sad as he said the words. He still truly believed with all of his heart that they were meant to be, but she knew differently.

"I was young and stupid back then." She said looking away from him. "Why don't you hate me?" She asked. The question caught him off guard; he hadn't expected her to ask him that.

"I know that I should hate you after what you put me through, but I don't. You shattered my heart into a thousand pieces the day you walked out of my life, but I still loved you with every single piece of it. I don't know why I still love you, but I do. I will always love you, Elena."

"I need you to hate me." She told him. She could feel the tears began to form on her eyes as she said those words. "I need you to hate me for what I did. What I did was unforgivable and I need you to hate me for it. I ran away from our love because I felt like I had failed you. You tried so hard to keep our marriage together, but in the end I was too selfish to help. I never meant to hurt you the way I did, I just needed to get away from what I had done." She let the tears fall as she began to relive the past.

"I never blamed you for what happened." He told her as he pulled her into a hug. "I was so worried about you after the accident and it nearly killed me to put you in that rehab. I knew that you hated me for it, but I was only trying to save you."

"I never hated you." Elena informed him. "I hated myself for what I had done, but it was easier to try and hate you. I am so sorry for all the pain that I caused you and I hope that someday you can forgive me for that." She pulled herself away from him and began to stand up.

"I already have," He said pulling her back towards him. He pulled her into an earth shattering kiss before she could say another word. She tried to pull away, but the feel of his lips on hers was too powerful for her and she had no choice but to kiss back.

A/N: I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. Thank you all so much for all the reviews. They really mean a lot to me and they also motivate me to write more. I am planning on flashing back to the accident in the next chapter because I know that all of you are curious about what exactly happened. A few people were very close with their guesses, but you will have to review to find out exactly what happened. I hope you enjoyed the Delena moment at the end. That was my gift to you for all of the reviews I got in the last chapter. : ) Next Chapter: Accident flashback, more Delena moments, more drama, and a surprise visitor. Any guesses on who it could be? Hint: It is someone that is going to cause a lot of Drama for our favorite couple. Thanks for reading and reviewing!


	7. Chapter 7

Her eyes fluttered open as she felt the body next to hers shift in the bed. Rolling over she realized who was sleeping next to her. Damon. The memories of the night before began flooding back to her. It had all happened so fast, she hadn't even had time to process what was happening or how she felt about it.

_"I know that I should hate you after what you put me through, but I don't. You shattered my heart into a thousand pieces the day you walked out of my life, but I still loved you with every single piece of it. I don't know why I still love you, but I do. I will always love you, Elena."_

_"I need you to hate me." She told him. She could feel the tears began to form on her eyes as she said those words. "I need you to hate me for what I did. What I did was unforgivable and I need you to hate me for it. I ran away from our love because I felt like I had failed you. You tried so hard to keep our marriage together, but in the end I was too selfish to help. I never meant to hurt you the way I did, I just needed to get away from what I had done." She let the tears fall as she began to relive the past._

_"I never blamed you for what happened." He told her as he pulled her into a hug. "I was so worried about you after the accident and it nearly killed me to put you in that rehab. I knew that you hated me for it, but I was only trying to save you."_

_"I never hated you." Elena informed him. "I hated myself for what I had done, but it was easier to try and hate you. I am so sorry for all the pain that I caused you and I hope that someday you can forgive me for that." She pulled herself away from him and began to stand up._

_"I already have," He said pulling her back towards him. He pulled her into an earth shattering kiss before she could say another word. She tried to pull away, but the feel of his lips on hers was too powerful for her and she had no choice but to kiss back._

"_Damon, I…we..we can't," She said finally breaking the kiss. "I am engaged."She could see the look of disappointment on his face as she said those words. It broke her heart to know that she was breaking his once again. _

"_You kissed me back." It was the only thing he could find in his heart to say. In truth, he had been surprised when she stopped trying to push away from him and began to return his kiss. He figured that she would push away and leave him alone, but she had given in and kissed him back. It was a feeling that they had both been without for eight years and they had both missed the touch of each other's lips. _

"_I know." She had kissed him back without putting up much of a fight. She should have pushed him away, after all, she was trying to get him to sign the divorce papers. But something inside of her refused to push away from him. Maybe it was because there was a part of her that still loved him, a part that wanted to forget everything and just start over. "I shouldn't have done that. I just missed it so much and I guess I wanted to pretend that it was eight years ago and nothing had ever changed." She admitted as she watched his face begin to light up. _

"_We don't have to pretend, Elena. We can just start over." He told her. He didn't wait for her to answer, instead he pulled her back into another kiss. After what seemed like hours they finally broke apart gasping for air. "Come back home with me." He said to her. "We can just forget the world, just for tonight. I want you, no, I need you, Elena."_

"_I need you, too." She knew it was wrong. She knew that this was the last thing that she should be doing, but Damon had always had some sort of power over her. With just one look at her, he could make her go weak in the knees. He could get her to do things that she had never even dreamed off. He could make her forget that other people even existed. At that moment it was just the two of them. Two people who were young and crazy in love, just like eight years ago. _

"Good morning," Damon said as he began to open his eyes. "How did you sleep?"

"Damon, what did we do?" Elena asked, trying to stay calm. She felt so ashamed at what she had done and yet she felt so happy also. Being in Damon's arms again felt right, it made her feel safe.

"What didn't we do?" He replied with a chuckle. "Let's just say that we almost made up for the last eight years in just one night."

"Oh my goodness." Was all Elena could say as she pulled away from him and made her way out of bed. She tried to gather all of her clothes and put them back on as fast as she could, but she was having a hard time finding all of them.

"Where are you going?" He sat up as he watched her race around the room with nothing on. Even when her hair was a mess and her makeup was smudged, he still couldn't help but think that she was the most beautiful girl that he had ever laid eyes on.

"I think that we should get dressed and have a talk." She told him, gathering the last of her clothes. "We have to talk about a few things." She said before turning around and making her way into the bathroom.

"Okay, let's talk." Damon said as he made his way into the kitchen. He was surprised to find Elena sitting at the kitchen table sipping on her coffee. She looked calm, which was not at all what he had expected. He figured that she would freak out and they would just end up arguing about their current situation even more.

"What exactly does this mean?" Elena asked trying to sort out all of her feelings about the previous night. She loved him, it was true, but she was still engaged to another man. Before coming back to Mystic Falls, she thought that she had her feelings figured out. She wanted to divorce him and be done with all of their past history, but now she almost wanted to explore their possible future.

"I think it means that we are still supposed to be together." Damon told her, taking a seat next to her. "You didn't exactly put up a fight to stop what was happening." He knew that she was feeling guilty about what had happened, but he couldn't tell if she regretted it or not.

"I know," She whispered. "I don't regret what we did, but I do feel bad about it. I can't believe I did this to Jason." Her heart broke as she thought about Jason and how he was going to feel about this when she told him.

"Did you feel bad when you did it to me?" Damon asked. He hadn't intended it to sound so cold, but he couldn't help it. He could believe that she felt so much guilt about cheating on her fiancé, when she hadn't felt guilty about cheating on her husband. "We were still married when you were sleeping with Jason and did you for one second feel guilty about that?" His voice was full of anger and hurt as he asked her the question.

"I was over you!" She shouted as she felt the anger boil up inside of her. How could he get mad at her when he had done the same thing? "Did you feel bad when you slept with Amy?" She asked.

"That is different and you know it." He defended. "I told Amy that I was still in love with you before we started seeing each other. I felt guilty about it, but what did you expect me to do? You didn't exactly leave me in a wonderful position. At least I was honest with Amy and told her that I was still in love with you and I always would be. Does Jason even know why you are down here?" He could tell by the look on her face that he was right. "Why does Jason think you are here?"

Tears started to form in her eyes. She knew that everything Damon had told her was true and she deserved to hear all of it. "He thinks that I am just here to tell my family about the engagement." She looked away from Damon. She could bear to look him after what she had just said.

"Just as I figured, you never told him all about your deep, dark past. I guess it is better that way. You can finally have the dream life you have been wanting." Damon said as he stood up and began to walk out of the room.

"Damon," Elena called out before he left the room. "I never meant to hurt you this way." It was true. She had never intended to hurt him or anyone else, but her selfish actions had caused everyone she cared about pain. "I just needed to leave my past behind, but now I see that that is impossible."

"You've made a lot of things impossible, Elena." Damon said before leaving her alone in the house they once shared.

….

"What are you doing here?" Damon heard a voice ask from behind him. Stefan sat down at the bar next to him as he waited for an answer.

"I just needed to clear my head and think about a few things." Damon answered as he took another drink of his beer.

"Is this about Elena?" Stefan asked, already knowing the answer. He had watched his brother suffer for eight years over Elena and he knew that since she had returned to Mystic Falls, Damon was reliving ever memory from their past.

"Isn't it always about Elena?" Damon answered.

"What happened this time?" Stefan asked. He watched Damon try to drown his sorrows with his beer as he waited for his brother to answer.

"We slept together last night." Damon answered with a slight laugh. "It was wonderful and I thought that we were both on the same page, but this morning she started feeling guilty because of her fiancé Jason. I yelled at her because I know that she didn't feel that guilt when she cheated on me and we ended up fighting again."

"Wow, you two just can't seem to quit each other, can you?" Stefan asked with a laugh. He knew that he should be sad for his brother, but the situation was just too funny to him. They were both so selfish with each other that it made Stefan laugh just a bit. How could two people who were so in love, not see that they were meant to be?

"I am going to have to quit her, Stefan." Damon said taking another swig of beer. "I love her, but I just don't know if I can go through this again. I love her enough to let her go."

Stefan was in shock as he listened to his brother. Over the past eight years he had seen his brother continue to hold on to Elena, but now he was suddenly deciding to let her go without even putting up on last fight. "This is not the Damon I know." He told him. "The Damon I know wouldn't give up until it was really over." Stefan left Damon with that finally thought before making his way out of the Mystic Grill.

….

Elena wondered around the house going through some of her old belongings when she came across a blue baby blanket. She felt tears form in her eyes as she stared down at it. She couldn't believe that Damon had kept it all these years. Her mind began to wonder back to the accident.

"_Elena," She heard a voice call to her. It seemed so far away from her, but yet so close. "Elena, please wake up." The voice pleaded with her. She could tell that something bad had happened to her because the voice sounded like it had been crying. "Elena, I know you can hear me and I am asking you to please wake up." She finally recognized the voice that was calling her. It was Damon. He was crying and begging her to wake up, but why?"_

_She tried hard to get her eyes to open and after what seemed like an hour she finally opened them. "Where am I?" She managed to choke out as she watched Damon's face light up. She could tell that he was still upset, but he was happy that she had finally opened her eyes. _

"_You were in a car accident." He told her as his sad smile turned back into a frown. "You have been out for almost three days and the doctors weren't sure that you were ever going to wake up." She could tell that he was trying hard not to cry as he told her what happened. "You ran through a stop sign and a large truck hit your car." _

"_I remember talking to you on the phone right before I blacked out." Elena said as she tried to remember what happened. "We were talking and I just didn't see the stop sign." Elena could tell that something wasn't right with Damon as she told him what she remembered. He seemed like he was hiding something from her and it was killing him. "I am so sorry, Damon. I know that you must have been worried sick about me, but I am okay." She tried to apologize as she watched Damon just nod in response. _

"I was keeping it for the next time." Elena heard Damon say as he walked into the living room. "I figured that we would have more someday and we could give it that blanket." He made his way past her and took the seat next to her on the couch.

"But you knew that there would never be a next time." Elena told him, a sad look played out on her face as she watched him.

"Miracles happen, Elena." He told her as he watched her put the blanket on the coffee table. "You didn't stick around long enough to find out if we could have had another baby. You just left without even trying."

"You don't know how hard it was for me to deal with the accident. You have no idea what I had to go through." Elena said as fresh tears started to fall.

"You think it was a piece of cake for me?" Damon asked. "You didn't have to sit around and pray for three days that your wife would wake up and be okay. You didn't have to tell her the news that she had lost your son. You didn't have to watch her self destruct and then put her in a rehab just to save her life. You didn't have to wait around for eight years for her to come home. Don't tell me I don't understand pain because believe me, I do." He didn't mean to lecture her about their past mistakes, but he was tired of her acting like she was the only one who had lost something, the only one who knew true pain. He remembered telling her that they had lost the baby and watching the look on her face as she realized what had happened.

"_I am looking for the family of Elena Salvatore." The doctor said as he made his way into the waiting room. _

"_I am her husband." Damon said as he stood up and walked towards the doctor. "How is she?" _

"_She is in a coma and we are not sure if or when she will wake up." The doctor informed him. Damon felt his world start spinning as the doctor said those words. _

_He finally got himself together enough to motion to the doctor to talk to him in private away from all of his friends and family. "How is the baby?" Damon asked in a whisper. They still hadn't gotten around to telling everyone that they were expecting a baby boy. It was something that they had planned on telling them that night, but instead they were spending it in the hospital, praying for Elena's survival. _

"_I am so sorry, Mr. Salvatore." The doctor began, "We tried to save the baby, but there was just too much damage. I am not sure that you will ever be able to conceive again because they damage was just too bad." The doctor gave him a pat on the back and a sad smile, before returning to the ER. _

_Damon felt as though he was losing his whole world. He made his way over towards the waiting area and sat down. He put his head in his hands and began to pray that Elena would somehow make it through this. _

_Three Days Later…._

""_Elena," Damon said. The doctors had told him that talking to her might help her wake up. "Elena, please wake up." He pleaded with her. "Elena, I know you can hear me and I am asking you to please wake up." He was desperate. "I can't lose you." He laid his head on her bed as he continued to hold her had. _

"_Where am I?" He heard her choke out a few minutes later. She was still struggling to open her eyes, but she was talking. His face lit up for the first time in days and he realized that he still had hope that everything would be alright. _

"_You were in a car accident." He told her as his sad smile turned back into a frown. "You have been out for almost three days and the doctors weren't sure that you were ever going to wake up." He smile turned back into a frown as he remembered that he was going to have to tell her what happened. "You ran through a stop sign and a large truck hit your car." _

"_I remember talking to you on the phone right before I blacked out." She told him as she tried to remember what happened. "We were talking and I just didn't see the stop sign. I am so sorry, Damon. I know that you must have been worried sick about me, but I am okay." She tried to apologize. He just simply nodded to let her know that he was okay. _

"_How is the baby?" Elena asked as a worried look appeared on her face. He had been dreading answering this question for days, but he knew that he was going to have to tell her the truth eventually. _

_He took a deep breath and tried to collect his thoughts before he answered. "The baby…" He paused trying to figure out how to break it to her. "The baby didn't make it." He said as he watched the tears begin to fall from her face. "They did everything that they could, but there was just too much damage." _

"_This is all my fault." Elena said as she continued to cry. It broke his heart to see her in so much pain, but he was so happy that she was alive and awake. _

"_None of this is your fault." He told her as he gently grabbed her face and looked at her in the eyes. "These things just happen." He knew that it wasn't the most comforting thing that he could say, but it was the only thing that he could think of at that moment. _

"_I promise that we can try again once I am better." She told him. "I know how much you want to become a father." His heart broke once again as she said those words. He remembered what the doctor had said and the devastating news that he had to tell her._

"_Elena, the doctors said that the damage was just too bad and they are not sure if we will ever be able to have another baby." He told her as fresh tears of his own fell down his face. He hated telling her that they would never be able to have kids again, but he couldn't lie to her and act like everything was going to be okay. _

"_No," Elena cried. "No, this can't be happening!" She cried out. He just nodded his head and tried his best to calm her down. _

"_It is going to be okay, Elena." He told her whipping the tears from her eyes. "It will be okay."_

"I am so sorry for everything that I have done to you, Damon. I am truly sorry. We can't fix this mess. I messed up things and I know that it can never be fixed. I love you, Damon, but there is just so much pain and hurt between us. I wish that we could go back and start over, but we both know that there is just too much damage." Elena told him as she stood up.

"Elena, do you still want to be with me?" Damon asked her. It was a simple question, one that he had been dying to ask her since she had arrived back in Mystic Falls. She had never really answered it for him; she had only played around and avoided it.

"I don't know what I want anymore, Damon." She answered with a sad look on her face. "I want to be with you, but I don't think that will ever happen again. There is just nothing left to fight for. I shouldn't have slept with you, or given you false hope. I shouldn't have left you the way I did, but I can't go back and change that."

"I told Stefan that I was going to let you go and sign the papers, but now that I know how you feel, I am willing to continue fighting for you." Damon told her. "I can't give up knowing that you still love me and that I still may have a shot."

Elena was about to answer him, when her cell phone began to ring. Looking down at the caller id she felt like she wanted to throw up. "Hey, Jason." She answered. She had completely forgotten to call him since she had arrived in Mystic Falls and she knew that he was going to be worried.

"Hey, Babe." Jason said on the other line. "Listen, I am in Mystic Falls and I am looking for you. I figured you had told your family the good news and It was time for me to come help you guys celebrate." Elena almost dropped the phone when she realized that Jason was now in town.

"Yeah, um… that is great! I will meet you at The Mystic Grill in about twenty minutes." She told him before hanging up the phone.

"Let me guess… Jason." Damon said as he watched her face go from shock to worry. She nodded to let him know he was right and sat back down on the couch.

"Damon, please don't do anything stupid." She begged as she watched him smirk. She could almost see the wheels in his head turning as she watched him stand up and grab his jacket.

"Me, do something stupid? Never. " He said with a grin. "I just want to meet the guy that has been sleeping with my wife for the past two years."

"Damon, please don't do this!" She shouted, but he was already out the door. She knew that things were about to get very, very ugly.

A/N: I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. I know that having them sleep together was probably not the best idea, but I had an idea for later on in the story and I needed them to be struggling with the fact that they still want to be together and that they slept together. Trust me, it will make sense later on and it will be a big part of the story later. I hope that you understood what was going on with all the flashbacks and stuff. If you have questions, feel free to ask me. I want to thank you guys for being so supportive of this story, it really means a lot. I know that a lot of you don't care for Elena because she left Damon, but I hope that these flashbacks and the ones that I will write in the next few chapters will help you understand what she was thinking. She really loves him, but she was so hurt and she didn't know how to escape from everything. She was young and stupid, but hopefully by the end of this story you guys will love her again. Also, I want to point out that Damon is not perfect, we just haven't really seen his flashbacks yet. If you want to find out what happens next, push the review button and tell me what you think. : ) Next Chapter: Jason and Damon meet and things get a little crazy. Also, if you have suggestions for things you would like to see happen in this story, please let me know. Thanks so much.

By the way, I got a Twitter just for my fanfictions. Follow me JateFanForever!


	8. Chapter 8

Elena felt like crying as she made her way out the door of Damon's house. She knew that she had to stop Damon from telling Jason about their past or their recent night together. Thoughts swirled around her head and began to cloud her mind. She was so confused about how her feelings for Damon and her feelings for Jason. There was a big part of her that wanted to just forget Jason and run back into Damon's arms, but she didn't want to add Jason to her long list of people she had brought pain to.

She made her way down a small side road as she tried to reach the Grill before things blew out of control, when she realized that this road was one of the last places she wanted to be at that moment. Memories began to flood back as she reached the familiar stop sign.

"_Hey honey, where are you?" Damon asked her as she continued along one of the old side roads. She had just finished shopping for the baby and was headed back towards the Grill. Tonight was the night that they were finally going to announce to their friends and family that they would soon be parents to a little baby boy. "I am almost there." She answered._

"_Everyone is here and they are starting to ask too many questions." He told her as she let out a giggle. He had always had a hard time keeping secrets from his friends and she knew that he was about to go crazy. "Just calm down, I am almost there." She reassured him. She was so focused on their conversation that she didn't see the big red stop sign and continued straight through._

_She realized her mistake as a huge truck came slamming into her car. "Elena! Elena, what happened?" Damon screamed through the phone. She tried to answer him, but she felt the darkness fade over her. The next thing she remembered was waking up in the hospital hours later._

The memory was too much for Elena to deal with, so she pulled her car off the road and tried to calm herself down. She had never been able to forgive herself for what had happened that day. It had been her fault that their son never got to live. Her life had never been the same since that day.

Getting her bearings together, she slowly pulled back onto the road and continued towards the grill, praying that she wasn't too late.

…

Damon made his way into the grill and began to scan the bar. He wasn't exactly sure what Jason looked like, but he had a pretty good idea that he was the only man in the Mystic Grill with a suit that looked like it cost a small fortune. Making his way over to the bar, he took the seat right next to the stranger.

"New in town?" Damon asked already knowing the answer to the question. Even if the man wasn't Jason, he certainly wasn't a local.

"Actually, I am just visiting." The man answered as he took another sip of his drink.

"What brings you to Mystic Falls?" Damon asked trying to make small talk.

"My fiancé's family lives down here and she is here visiting them, so I thought that I would drop by and surprise her." The man answered as he took another sip of whatever he was drinking.

"I'm sure that she will be surprised." Damon said as he signaled for the bartender. "I will have a beer." He told the man behind the counter before turning his attention back to the stranger. "What is your fiancés name?"

"Elena Gilbert." The man replied. "Do you know her?"

"Ah, yes, we go way back." Damon answered the man. "I have known Elena since we were in diapers."

"She wonderful, isn't she?" Jason stated, reaching for his glass.

"She is definitely one of a kind." Damon agreed as the bartender handed him his beer. "So how did you two meet?" Damon asked wanting to know the details of Elena's past.

"We were both eating at the same restaurant in New York. She was so beautiful that I couldn't take my eyes off of her and after watching her for almost an hour, I finally gathered the courage to talk to her. She was so broken back then. It took me forever to get her to open up to me. In fact, there is still so much that I don't know about her, but I trust that she will tell me when she feels comfortable with it." Jason continued with his story as Damon downed the rest of his beer. "She doesn't really like to talk about her past or anything about her life here in Mystic Falls, it is all a complete mystery to me. All she will tell me is that she got her heart broken and she had to get out of this small town."

"Her past is definitely not a pretty one." Damon said signaling for the bartender once more. Talking about his wife with her future husband was almost too much for Damon to handle and he knew that it was going to require a lot of alcohol to get through it.

"What can you tell me about her?" Jason asked, watching Damon down another sip of his beer. "I mean you two seem like you were really close, so you can probably clue me in on what happened, right?"

"I thought you trusted her to open up when she was ready?" Damon asked him.

"I do, but it would definitely help if I understood why she is the way she is. You don't have to give all the little details, but it would be helpful if you gave me just a glimpse of what she was like back then." Jason told him. Damon could tell that Jason was desperate to understand why Elena was the broken person that she was. He almost felt bad for the guy because he had been sucked into a very sticky situation.

Taking a deep breath, Damon began to recall the past events that had shaped Elena into the woman that she was today. "It all started back in high school," He began as Jason listened closely. "She was madly in love with one of her best friends, they were inseparable. They had a whole future planned out, they had the world or so they thought. They married right out of high school and things seemed great for awhile, but then she was in a horrible car accident and things changed. Her husband just didn't understand what she was going through and she decided that she needed to get out of this town. They never got over the accident and the trauma that it had caused her, so they ended up ending their marriage and she ran off to New York to chase her dreams." Damon finished the story and looked over at Jason, whose jaw was wide open as he stared at Damon with complete shock.

"Wow… I guess I don't blame her for not telling me. It sounds like she has had a rough life." It was all the Jason could manage to get out of his mouth. Elena's past had been a lot for him to digest and something told him it was not the whole story. "Thanks for telling me." Jason told Damon as they both took another swig of their drinks. "I promise I won't say a word about this to her." Jason said setting his drink back down.

Damon was about to thank him when they heard Elena's voice coming through the crowd. "Jason!" Elena shouted as she ran up and hugged her fiancé. "I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you, too." He told her placing a soft kiss on her cheek. He gestured to an open seat next to him. "Have a seat and join the fun. I was just talking to your old friend Damon." He told her as the three adults sat back down at the bar. "Damon was just telling me all about the historic Mystic Falls." Jason told her as he winked at Damon. "I think it sounds like the perfect place to have a wedding, don't you think?" He asked Elena as she nearly choked on her drink.

"I don't know if that is a good idea." Elena told him as she began to panic. "We have a lot of people coming to the wedding and Mystic Falls is kind of small." She tried her best to act cool about it, but she was completely losing it on the inside.

"Maybe we could have a secret wedding here and then another one back in New York." Jason suggested as Elena gave him a fake smile. "I think that your family and friends should see you get married and this way we can get married months before we are supposed to."

"When exactly are you suggesting we have this secret wedding?" Elena asked him as she watched the smile spread out on Jason's face.

"How about on the thirtieth?" Jason suggested.

"Thirtieth of this month? That is in two weeks!" Elena practically shouted. If she hadn't already been panicked before, she definitely was now. "Are you out of your mind?"

"Elena, I love you and I can't wait to call you my wife." Jason told her as he took her hand. "I have never been surer of anything in my entire life. I know that it is soon, but I think that it is what we should do."

"But there is so much that you don't know about me." Elena told him, hoping that it would buy her sometime because two weeks was definitely not making her feel happy.

"I know that you have a secret past and I am fine with that because I know that it is in the past. I don't care who you were or what you did, I care about who you are and who you are going to be… and I am hoping that that is my wife."

Elena felt her stomach tie up in knots as she tried to fake a smile and just nod. Jason had just said so many romantic things to her and she knew that if it wasn't for her messy situation with Damon, she would marry him today, but unfortunately her life was way too complicated at the moment. "Two weeks." She nodded in agreement because she couldn't come up with an excuse not to, at least not one that she could tell him at the moment.

"Well, it looks like I have some phone calls to make. I will let you and Damon catch up and I will see you back at the hotel. I will text you the room number." Jason told her as he stood up and excused himself from the conversation.

"Congratulations!" Damon told her as soon as Jason was out of earshot. "I guess you better figure out how to get your husband to sign those divorce papers." He smirked as she shot him a dirty look.

"This isn't funny, Damon." She snapped as he just continued to chuckle. "You have to sign those papers because I can't tell him about us."

"I guess you should have thought about that before you slept with me last night." Damon told her before downing the rest of his beer. "I told you that I am not going to give you up without a fight, so I guess it is time to confess to your boyfriend because if you don't, I will. Oh, and by the way, I told him about us, but I left out the part that I was the one who married you, the part about the baby, and the part that we are still married." He told her as he paid the bill. "He seems like a good guy and he must really love you if he is willing to look over your deep dark past. I know that I am not a big fan of my wife's fiancé, but I do think he deserves to be treated better than that. He deserves to know the truth." Damon left Elena sitting at the bar, completely shocked at what he had just said.

A/N: Hey guys, I know that it has been a little while and I am very sorry about that. I am amazed that I have 80 reviews! You guys rock! Keep it up and I promise to update more. Anyway, I have been trying to figure out how to write this chapter and I am still not sure that I like it, but I figured I owed you guys a new chapter. I know that it is kind of short, but at least it is an update. Please let me know what you think about this chapter and if you have any suggestions. MAJOR Delena drama coming up in the next few chapters, they are going to start dealing with their dark past and their possible future. If you want to find out what happens next leave me a review. Thank you guys! : )


	9. Chapter 9

Confused and ashamed is exactly how Elena felt. She was confused about her relationships, sure she loved Jason, but she had never really gotten over Damon. With Jason she was a completely different person, a person who felt she had to hide everything about herself. With Damon, however, she could just be herself. Damon loved her; even after everything she had put him through over the years. He accepted her for her faults. She knew exactly what she had to do, but it was not going to be easy.

After what seemed like hours, she finally decided to meet Jason at his hotel. She knew that Damon was right, Jason deserved to know the truth, he deserved to know everything about the person he wanted to marry. She figured that her relationship would be over, but she owed it to Jason and to herself to come clean.

As she pulled up to the Mystic Falls Inn, she felt her body began to shake with anxiety. Fighting the tears, she made her way up to Jason's room and reluctantly knocked on the door. She put on a brave face as she saw the hotel room door swing open and Jason standing right in front of her.

"Hey," Jason greeted as he placed a gentle peck on her cheek. "I have made some calls and everything is in order for our wedding in two weeks." She could tell that he was bursting with excitement as he told her the news. "I guess you better start search for that perfect dress of yours, Mrs. McAllister." She hated the fact that she was about to break his heart, but she knew that she had let this go far enough and it was time to end it all.

"I'm not so sure that you are going to still want to marry me after I tell you what I am about to tell you." She could feel the tears behind her eyes threatening to fall, but she refused to cry about what she had to tell him. It was her fault that she was in this mess to begin with. She had made her bed and now she had to deal with whatever happened next.

"What are you talking about?" Jason questioned as he led her over to the bed. "There is nothing in this world that could change my mind about marrying you. I love you, Elena, forever and always." He brushed a stray hair out of her face as he waited for her to explain what was going on.

"I am finally ready to tell you all about my past and I am not sure you are going to like what I have to say." Elena explained as she watched Jason's face twist in even more confusion. "It is a very long and very messy past and I am not proud of it, but I need to confess it to you. You are a wonderful person and you deserve so much better. I haven't been honest with you and now I need to finally be honest about who I am and what I've done."

"Elena, you don't have to-" Jason stared, but Elena cut him off with her finger on his lips."Shh," Elena stopped him. "I have to tell you because you deserve the truth. You have been so wonderful to me and I have treated you horribly and for that I am truly sorry."

Elena felt a single tear fall from her eyes as she began to tell him her story. "About seven years ago, I married my best friend. The marriage only lasted two years and then something terrible happened and I left him and moved to New York. About six months before I moved to New York, I was in a horrible car accident that was my fault. At the time I was pregnant and I lost the baby because of the accident." Elena started to sob softly as she told Jason about the accident. It killed her to talk about the loss of her child and how the whole thing was her fault.

Jason pulled her into a hug and tried to comfort her as he waited for her to continue her story. She finally pulled herself together and the memories began to flood back as she continued her story.

_Five years ago…_

"_Good news," Damon announced as he walked into Elena's hospital room. "The doctor says that you can go home today!" He made his way over to her bed and sat down next to her. She tried her best to force a smile and act like she was happy, but all she wanted was to be alone. _

_About three hours later Damon was wheeling her out towards their car. He helped her get into the car and then hopped into the driver's seat. "You want to go get something to eat at the grill?" He asked her as he headed out of the parking lot._

"_Sure." She answered as she stared out of the window. She refused to look at him because she was so ashamed of herself. She remained quite the whole way to the grill. Once they pulled up to the grill, she made her way out of the car and Damon helped her inside and over to a table. _

"_What are you going to eat?" He asked, trying to make small talk. He could tell that she was still upset and he knew that the doctor had said that she would be for a few months. The doctor had suggested some therapy to help them through the difficult time, but Elena had refused. _

"_I'm not feeling hungry." She said not looking up from her menu. It broke Damon's heart to see her like this, but he knew that she just needed time to heal. _

"_You really need to eat something." He told her, grabbing her hand from across the table. "I know it hurts, but we have to do our best to get through this. You are not alone, Elena." He tried to comfort her, but she pulled her hand away from him._

"_Can we just not talk about this?" She snapped. He could see her eyes fill with tears and he knew that it was time to back off and give her some space. _

_The waitress made her way over to their table and began to take their order. Damon was shocked when Elena ordered a glass of Vodka. Elena had never been one to drink, but Damon figured she was just trying to get through all of this by drowning her sorrows in alcohol. He didn't approve, but he refused to start a fight with her, so he just sat back and remained quite. _

_After her third glass, he could no longer remain quite about it. "Elena, I think that you have had enough." He said firmly, but she just gave him a look of pure annoyance. "You can refuse to talk to me, but I refuse to let you drink your pain away." He told her as he watched her get up from her seat. He quickly paid the bill and rushed out the door to follow her. "Where are you going?" He asked as he caught up to her. _

"_I am going home." She said still refusing to look him in the eye. _

"_Elena, please just get in the car." He pleaded with her. She stopped walking and turned towards him. _

"_Just leave me alone, Damon!" She shouted as tears rushed down her face. "How can you still love me after what I did?" She sobbed as he pulled her into a hug. He tried to comfort her as he rubbed her back. _

"_It wasn't your fault, Baby." He whispered as she continued to sob into his chest. "These things just happen. I know that it hurts, but you can't blame yourself for this." It broke his heart to see her like this. He felt hopeless as she continued to cry. He wanted so badly to take away her pain, but he knew that there was nothing he could do for her._

_The weeks went by and Elena still refused to eat. She would wait until Damon was away and she would drown her sorrows with his alcohol stash. It didn't take him long to figure out what she was doing. After about a month and a half of her refusing to eat and he constant drinking, Damon made the hard decision he had ever had to make. He decided that he could no longer help her and he put her in a rehab facility. Their relationship had never been the same since then. Once she was released, she was so ashamed about what had happened that she decided to get out of Mystic Falls and start over. _

"Once I got out of rehab, I knew that I had to get away from this place. I was so ashamed ofwhat I had done and I didn't want to have to be reminded of it all the time, so I ran away to New York. And then I met you, and as hard as I tried to fight it, I still fell for you. I didn't want to tell you about my past because I didn't want to be that person. The only problem is that I am that person, I have tried to run away from my past, but eventually it caught up to me. I came back here to get my husband to sign the divorce papers, but he is refusing to do that." Elena pulled away from Jason's embrace and stared up at his face.

"I…I…I'm not exactly sure what to say." Jason mumbled in complete shock. "I knew that you had been married because your friend Damon told me about it, but I had no idea that you were still married."

"Jason, I never meant to hurt you. I am so sorry about all of this." Elena told him as she whipped away her tears. "I understand if you hate me." She began to stand up when she felt a hand on her shoulder pulling her back down.

"I know that I said I don't care about your past, but I think that I am going to need some time to digest all of this." Jason told her. "I love you, but I don't know if I can look at you right now." Elena nodded, understanding what he meant.

"Call me when you figure out what you want to do. I understand if you want to break up, I haven't treated you the way you deserve to be treated. I never meant to hurt you, I just didn't want you to know the girl that I was running away from." Elena stood back up and headed towards the door. She walked out the door without looking back. It killed her to think that she had just broken another heart. The worst part is that she had never meant to hurt him, but her past had caught up with her and she had to deal with it, no matter how painful it was.

…..

Damon felt his phone began to vibrate in his pocket as he made his way through the grill. He looked down to see who was calling him, but he didn't recognize the number. He decided it was best to pick up the phone and answer it. "Hello?" He answered.

"I did it, I confessed to Jason about us." The voice on the other end slurred. He could tell that Elena had been crying and drinking because that is what she did when she was upset. "He knows about us and now my life is over. I hope you are happy!" She snapped through the phone.

"You think I am happy?" Damon snapped back. "I would be happy if my wife would get over whatever her problem is and we could continue with the life we were supposed to have. I would be happy if she had never left and had faced her problems instead of running from them. I would be happy if she had never gotten engaged to another man while she was still married to me." Damon continued to yell through the phone. He hated yelling at her, but at this point he felt like she deserved it. "In fact I am not sure why I still love you, but I still do. I love you so much that it kills me, Elena. Why can't you see that?"

He could hear her sobs get louder as he waited for her to answer. "I don't know why you love me, because I don't deserve it. I should have just died in that accident and then things would have been so much easier for you." He could tell that she was really drunk now.

"Never say that, Elena. Please just come home and we will fix this. I promise that we can get through this." He pleaded with her. He prayed that she wouldn't do something stupid while she was in this depressed state.

"We can't fix this, Damon. I have made such a mess of things and there is no way to fix this." Elena whispered before hanging up the phone.

"Elena? Elena?" Damon shouted through the phone, but she was already gone. He sighed as he closed his phone. Winning her back was going to be harder than he thought and for a brief moment he wondered if he should just give up and let her go.

"Damon, is everything okay?" Alaric asked as Damon sat on the barstool next to him. He could tell that Damon was upset about something. He watched Damon order a drink as he waited for Damon to open up.

"Elena." Damon answered. Alaric knew exactly what that one word meant. "I think the time has finally come for me to let her go." Damon told him as he took a sip of his beer.

"I'm sorry, man." Alaric said as he placed his hand on Damon's shoulder. "You know what they say, if you love someone, you have to let them go."

"I have always hated that saying." Damon said letting out a small chuckle. "But I guess it's true. I know what I have to do now."He said with a heavy sigh.

"What's that?" Alaric asked as he watched Damon stand up from the bar and place some money on the table.

"I have to sign the divorce papers. I love her so much and all I want is for her to be happy. I just wish I could be the man to do that for her." He said before leaving Alaric alone at the bar.

….

Elena tried to sleep, but the thoughts spinning around in her head made that impossible. A knock on the door snapped her out of her thoughts. She made her way down the stairs as she wondered who was knocking on her door at such a late hour. Looking through the peep hole she saw a very upset looking Jason.

"Jason, what in the world are you doing here at two in the morning?" She asked as she opened the door. She stepped aside and signaled for him to come in.

"I love you, Elena and I don't care about your past or what you have done. I want to be with you forever and that is all that I know. I am so sorry that I acted the way that I did earlier, I was just in shock. We will get your husband to sign the papers and then we will get married. I love you and I don't want to spend another second away from you." He told her before capturing her lips in a passionate kiss.

Elena felt sick to her stomach as they pulled apart. She blamed it on the drinking, but she knew that it was out of guilt. If it was one thing she knew, it was that she was still in love with Damon and nothing was ever going to change that.

A/N: Thank you guys so much for all the wonderful reviews! You guys are always so nice to me. Elena finally confessed to Jason! I hope that you guys understand Elena a little bit better with this chapter. She is selfish, but it is only because she feels so guilty about the accident and she figured the only way to get over it was to run away from her problems. I don't know how I feel about this chapter, but I am very excited about the next few chapters! Please let me know what you think about this and what you think is going to happen. Elena is going to get a big surprise in the next chapter that is going to change the whole course of the story, so be prepared. Once again, thank you so much for all the reviews and please let me know what you think about this chapter! : )


	10. Chapter 10

_Elena tried to sleep, but the thoughts spinning around in her head made that impossible. A knock on the door snapped her out of her thoughts. She made her way down the stairs as she wondered who was knocking on her door at such a late hour. Looking through the peep hole she saw a very upset looking Jason._

_"Jason, what in the world are you doing here at two in the morning?" She asked as she opened the door. She stepped aside and signaled for him to come in._

_"I love you, Elena and I don't care about your past or what you have done. I want to be with you forever and that is all that I know. I am so sorry that I acted the way that I did earlier, I was just in shock. We will get your husband to sign the papers and then we will get married. I love you and I don't want to spend another second away from you." He told her before capturing her lips in a passionate kiss._

_Elena felt sick to her stomach as they pulled apart. She blamed it on the drinking, but she knew that it was out of guilt. If it was one thing she knew, it was that she was still in love with Damon and nothing was ever going to change that._

"_You should come back to the hotel with me." Jason told her. "I think we have a lot of making up to do." He gave her a suggestive smirk before pulling her back into a passionate kiss. "I have missed you so much and I think it is time we reconnect, if you know what I mean."_

"_I… have… missed… you…. too." Elena said in between kisses. "Let's go." She said as she finally pulled away from him. _

"Elena!" Jenna shouted through the door of Elena's old bedroom. Elena tried her best to open her eyes as aunt Jenna continued to knock on the door. Sitting up, Elena realized that her makeup with Jason was only a dream. It was the same dream she had been have for the past week, ever since she had told Jason the truth. Sighing heavily, she slowly got up out of bed and made her way over to the door. "Elena, Jason is on the phone and he said that he really needs to speak to you." Jenna told her as she opened the door. "I will call him in a few minutes," Elena answered as Jenna simply nodded before making her way back downstairs.

Elena felt crushed as she remembered her dream; her perfect little dream was just a dream, as it had been every night for the past seven days. However, she knew that it shouldn't have come as a surprise to her because there was no way that Jason was going to just forget everything that had happened, and come running back to her without a second thought. In fact, she was expecting him to leave her and never look back because that is exactly what she deserved.

Pushing the thoughts aside, she made her way into the bathroom to take a shower, but a wave of dizziness hit her and she slide down on the cold bathroom floor. Trying to shake the feeling off, she slowly stood up and leaning against the sink trying to get her balance back. When she finally got herself together, she finished getting ready.

"Are you okay?" Jenna asked as Elena walked into the kitchen and started to pour herself a cup of coffee. "You aren't looking so hot."

"I feel a little sick this morning." Elena answered as she made her way over to the kitchen table and took a seat next to Jenna. "I almost passed out while trying to get ready and I feel like I could throw up if I try to eat anything."

"I'm sure that it is just a stomach bug. Maybe you should just take it easy today and relax, you have been under a lot of stress this week and I'm sure that it is just starting to catch up to you." Aunt Jenna suggested as Elena simply nodded in agreement.

"You are probably right, but I need to talk to go talk to Jason and figure out what I am going to do about this messy situation." Elena said as she stood up from the table. "I better head on over to the Grill and meet Jason. I have a feeling this is not going to go over too well, so I am sure I will be spending the next few days in bed anyway."

"Good luck, Elena. If you and Jason are meant to be, everything will work out. Besides, if he loves you as much as he says he does, he will forgive you." Aunt Jenna said before giving Elena a hug. "No matter what happens, you always have me."

"Thanks, Jenna." Elena whispered as she pulled away. She gathered her purse and headed out the door, praying that everything would work out.

….

The Grill was almost completely empty as Elena made her way through the Mystic Falls hotspot. There were a few people sitting in the back, but they seemed to be the local elders who usually talked about the town gossip and started some new rumors from time to time. They seemed to be too interested in the latest headlining story to pay any attention to her. Once she reached the bar, she took a seat and waited and waited for Jason.

She prayed that he would end it fast and she could move on from this whole mess that she had created for herself. She felt like she needed to rip the band aid off and let the air hit it. Wounds always sting for the first few minutes and then the pain eases after that, right? It was definitely going to sting when he broke up with her, but it was totally deserved on her part. A part of her wished that she could take it all back, that she never shared her past with Jason. Ignorance is bliss, or at least that is what everyone always told her. However, she knew in her heart that she had done the right thing by telling him, she just wished that she had been straight with him from the start.

"You just can't seem to stay away from the bar these days, huh?" Elena heard a familiar voice say as it made its way to the seat next to her.

"What do you want, Damon?" Elena asked, snapping out of her thoughts as she watched him take a seat. The last thing she needed was to have a fight with him right before meeting Jason. This night was already going to be hard and Damon would only make matters worse if she allowed him to.

"I figured that you might needs these," He said as he placed the signed divorce papers in front of her. "You can't get married to Jason if you are still legally bound to me." He tried to force a smile on his face, but Elena could see the hurt in his eyes. "It was the hardest thing that I have ever had to do, but I know that it is for the best. I will always love you, Elena, but I know that I can't make you happy anymore. Jason seems like a really great guy and I know that he will take care of you and make you happy. I wish you all the happiness in the world."

"Why are you being so nice about this?" Elena asked. "After everything that I have put you through, why don't you hate me? This whole thing would be so much easier if you could just hate me." She sighed as she waited for his response.

"That is what you wanted all along, isn't it?" He asked as she turned her head away from him. "When you left me all those years ago, you wanted me to hate you." He could tell that he had struck a nerve as he watched her whole body tense.

"You were so happy that I was alive and I felt so guilty that I was and our son was not, I needed you to hate me because I hated myself. I loved you so much, but I needed you to hate me and let me go. It was so hard leaving you that day. I was scared and hurt and you were trying so hard to keep it together for me. I knew that I had to leave because I was only going to drag you down and it wasn't fair to do that to you. I had planned on you moving on, but I guess that didn't exactly work out for either one of us." Elena explained.

"I never hated you." Damon said as he grabbed her hand. "I prayed every single day that you would come back to me because I loved you more than anything in the whole world. I tried to visit you in New York, but I saw you with Bonnie and decided not to bother you. For the first time since the accident, you looked truly happy. I realized then that you need space to grow and to move on from what had happened. A few months later I found out that you were dating and I decided that you just need to go through that phase and that one day you would come back to me, but it looks like it wasn't just a phase, it was real. I want you to know that I could never hate you, Elena. I know that I have every right to hate you, but I just can't. I have been so in love with you since the day I met you and I just can't find it in me to hate you. In fact, I actually forgive you for all the pain that you have caused me. I know it seems crazy, but it's true." Damon said as a single tear fell down his face. "I hope you and Jason have a wonderful life together and that you have all that you have ever dreamed of and more. Goodbye, Elena." He placed a soft kiss on her forehead as he stood up from his spot. He began to walk away, but stopped when he heard soft sobs coming from Elena.

"Jason and I are over." She said trying to get herself together as she noticed Damon sit back down beside her. "I told him about us and he said that he needed time to think. I am meeting him here to talk, but I am pretty sure that he is going to break up with me. I guess that I deserve it, but it still hurts."

"If he loves you as much as I do, he will never be able to fully walk away." Damon said, trying to comfort her. "After talking to him the other night, I am pretty sure that he is head over heels for you, so I am sure that he will come running back to you. If he lets you go, he is an idiot."

"Thank you, Damon." Elena said as she whipped away her tears. "I hope that you find a girl who can make you truly happy, I'm so sorry that it couldn't be me."

"Hey, you made me happy, but sometimes people are just meant to be friends not soul mates."He told her trying to laugh it off. "It was silly for us to think that we had found our soul mates at such a young age." He gave her a fake smile as he tried his hardest to keep it together. His heart was breaking at the thought of his marriage to her actually being over.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Elena laughed, trying to hide her own pain.

"Friends?" Damon asked holding out his hand to shake hers.

"Friends," Elena agreed as she shook his hand.

"I better get going. I am supposed to be hanging out with Alaric this afternoon and he get cranky if I am running late." Damon said as he stood back up out of his chair. "See you around, Elena." She watched Damon make his way out of the grill just before Jason made his appearance.

"Hey," Jason said as he walked up towards her. He made his way to the seat next to her as he waited for her to finally speak.

"Hey," She said her voice just barely above a whisper. Her voice was shaky and she knew that she had to get herself together before she fell apart right in front of him. "Jason-" She started to say, but he stopped her.

"Just stop. You have done enough talking and now it is my turn to say something." He told her. "I understand that you have a past that you are not proud of, we all do, but you have to tell the people that you love. We can't start a marriage based on lies, it will never work out. When I proposed to you, I meant that I wanted you forever, not just for a few years. I know that I said I didn't care about your past, but I care that you don't trust me enough to tell me about it." Jason grabbed both of her hands and held the tight before continuing. "I love you, Elena. Even though you lied to me and kept me in the dark, I still love you. I want to marry you next week, but I need to know that the secrets are over, that I can trust you again. Can I trust you again?" He asked.

Elena was speechless all she could do was nodded her head, but she had no idea what she was nodding for. She couldn't believe that Jason still wanted to marry her, after everything that had happened, she figured he would have be over her, but here he was confessing his love for her once again.

"Good," Jason said as he watched her nod her head in agreement. "I have missed you so much. I have been a complete wreck without you. I guess we better start planning our wedding next week!" He pulled her into a big hug, placing kisses a long her neck.

Elena felt the same sick feeling that she had had earlier in the morning was over her again as she pulled away from him. She excused herself and ran towards the bathroom. She barely made it over to the toilet before she emptied the contents of her stomach. Once she was sure that she had everything under control, she stood up slowly and tried to regain her balance. Making her way over to the sink, she rinsed her mouth out and splashed some water on her face, trying to making her face look a little better before making her way back out to Jason.

"Everything okay?" He asked as he watched her walk out of the bathroom. She could tell that he was worried about her by the sound of his voice.

"I think that I just have some stomach bug or something." She answered trying to brush it off and not make such a big deal about it.

"We better get you back to Jenna's house and get you to bed." Jason told her, putting his arm around her, he led her out of the grill and over to his car. He helped her into the car and then made his way over to the driver's seat.

"Could we stop by the store before we go to Jenna's?" She asked. "I think that I should get some Pepto-Bismol for my stomach." She watched him nodded before starting the car and backing out of the parking space.

Once they arrived at the store, he tried to get out of the car, but she stopped him. "I want to go in and get it. I promise that I will be fine." Against his wishes he agreed to stay in the car while she went into the store.

Once she was in the store, she made her way over to an isle that she didn't really want to be in, but she knew that this was more than just some stomach bug. She searched along the shelves until she found the item that she wanted to purchase.

"Elena?" She heard a voice say from behind her. At that moment she wanted the world to swallow her up.

"Stefan," She answered turning around to face him. She watched as he stared at the item she held in her hands. "Umm, what are you doing here?" She tried to sidetrack him , but her efforts were useless.

"Obviously not what you are doing here," He said with a chuckle. "I guess I should be congratulating you." He said pointing at the box in her hands.

"Umm, I don't know yet." She told him as her face turned red. "Listen, please don't tell anyone about this, especially not Damon." She pleaded with him.

"What is the problem, Elena?" Stefan asked as a confused look appeared on his face. "You and your fiancé are going to have to tell the world sometime, right? Why keep it from all of your friends?" He asked her.

"Look it is complicated, okay? Please just don't say a word to anyone." She said before rushing towards the front of the store to pay. She had never been so happy to leave the store in her life. She made her way back to the car and got in a quickly as she could.

"Are you alright?" Jason asked as he noticed her sigh of relief that she was back in the car.

"Yeah, I just want to go home and go to bed." She snapped at him. She could tell that she had hurt his feelings a little and she tried to apologize. "I'm sorry, I'm just not feeling the greatest and I just want to be alone for a little while." He nodded and grabbed her head and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Once the made it back to Jenna's house, she gave him a kiss on the cheek and said her goodbyes, before making her way back in the house.

"Hey," She heard Jenna say as she walked into the kitchen. "How did things go with Jason?"

"The wedding is back on, but there might be a small problem with that." Elena said as she pulled out the small box she had picked up at the store and showed it to Jenna.

"How is that going to be a problem?" Jenna asked confused. "You two are already getting married, so you just skipped the honeymoon step and went straight to being parents, it will be okay."

"I haven't been with Jason in months." Elena said as she felt the tears starting to form. She watched as Jenna finally started to realize what she was saying.

"Elena, what have you done?" Jenna asked, her face was full of shock and disappointment.

"I got a little drunk a few weeks ago and Damon and I sort of… well, you know." She said as the tears started to fall. "It was stupid and we both agreed to move on from it, but I guess that plan kind of back fired on us."

"Don't get too upset yet, you haven't even taken it." Jenna said trying to comfort her. "Go upstairs and take it before you get yourself all worked up about it."

Elena made her way up to her old bathroom and closed the door behind her. Taking the test out of the box, she read over the instructions and followed them. Within five minutes she would know something that could possibly change her life forever.

A/N: I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you think. : ) Did anyone see this coming? By the way, thanking you for all the reviews. I finally reached over 100! And if you want to find out what happens next, click the little review button. : )


	11. Chapter 11

Not Pregnant. The two words made Elena sigh with relief. Her situation was messed up enough without bringing a baby into the mix. There was a small part of Elena that felt disappointed. Perhaps having a baby with Damon would have given her a chance to fix her past mistakes, but she knew that the past was in the past and she had to move on from it.

"Elena?" She heard Jenna knock on the bathroom door. "Are you okay? You have been in there for ten minutes."

"Yeah, I am fine." Elena said as she opened the bathroom door. Jenna stared at her waiting for more information. "The test was negative." Elena said, watching Jenna's concerned face turned confused. "If the test was negative, why do you look so sad about it?" Jenna asked.

"I guess I was hoping that I was so Damon and I could fix what I messed up five years ago." Elena confessed. "I know that it was stupid and selfish, but there's a part of me that still loves him. I am so scared and confused. I have made such a mess of things and yet he still loves me." Elena felt tears start to fall.

"You still have a chance to fix things." Jenna said trying to comfort her. The two made their way over to Elena's bed and sat down on it.

"Damon signed the papers this morning. It's over." Elena said putting her head in her hands. "He needs to move on from me because he deserves so much better. I have messed up his whole life and he deserves to move on and be happy. I can't be the person that he needs."

"You deserve to be happy, too." Jenna said as she rubbed Elena's back, trying to comfort her once more. "I know that you have messed up things. You have hurt people. You left without saying a word and you never looked back. You lied. You cheated. You hurt every single person that cared about you, but everyone deserves a second chance."

"I don't." Elena said. She knew that she had done so much damage. She had hurt all the people that she loved and she continued to do it. "I think that I need to go talk to Jason." Elena said suddenly as she wiped her tears away from her face. Jenna nodded watching Elena stand up from the bed and walk over to the door. "I will be back soon."

"Elena," Jenna called out. Elena stopped and turned around to face her aunt. "Please remember that no matter what happens, I will always love and support you." Elena gave her a sad small smile as she nodded her head before turning around and walking away.

….

"What are you so happy about?" Damon asked his brother as Stefan sat down next to him. The two were meeting up to have some guy time at the grill.

"Oh, nothing," Stefan replied as he continued to stare at Damon with a goofy grin on his face.

"Stefan, if you don't stop staring at me with that goofy grin, I will punch you in the face and we will see you are smiling then. You are creeping me out." Damon said as he picked up his beer and took another swig.

"Oh, I will still be smiling alright." Stefan answered. "I think Uncle Stefan sounds like a good name to me, don't you?" Stefan asked. He waited for Damon to respond, hoping that he would figure it out.

"What is Katherine's sister pregnant or something?" Damon asked, still annoyed with Stefan's cheerfulness.

"Try again." Stefan said as he watched Damon take another drink just before his spit the whole thing out. Stefan smiled as he watched it finally click in Damon's head.

"Are you trying to say that Elena is pregnant with my child?" Damon asked as his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"Now you are getting it." Stefan said as he patted his brother on the back. Stefan felt a little bad about telling Damon Elena's secret, but he knew that Damon had a right to know and with Elena's history, he figured that she wouldn't tell him.

"How do you know?" Damon asked still trying to wrap his mind around what he had just heard.

"I saw her in the store today buying a pregnancy test." Stefan told him. "She asked me not to say anything to anyone, especially you. When I said something about the baby being Jason's, she told me it was complicated and ran off. So, do you have something that you need to tell me, brother?"

"It was a few weeks ago," Damon started as he recalled the events from that night. "Elena and I were drunk and we went a little too far. Let's just say we made up for the last five years."

"It must have been some night." Stefan laughed.

"I thought that it would have made her realize that we are still meant to be together, but I don't think it did." Damon said as he put his head down. He knew that it was an impossible dream, but he wished that Elena would remember what they had and want it back as much as he did. "I signed the papers and gave them to her this morning. I guess it is officially over."

"Well, you might want to tell Damon Jr. that." Stefan laughed as he patted his brother on the back. "I can't believe that you are going to be a daddy."

"You have no proof of that." Damon told him as he lifted his head back up and looked at Stefan. "For all we know it could be Jason's or a false alarm, so let's not get our hopes up, okay?"

"It is definitely not Jason's, and Salvatore's don't give false alarms." Stefan said as the grin on his face got even wider. "Just wait, Elena will be running to tell you the news soon."

"I wish that you were right, little brother, but I doubt that if she is pregnant with my child, she would even tell me. She will probably marry Jason and tell him that the baby is his because she wants absolutely nothing to do with me." Damon said before taking another drink.

"Just wait, brother, Elena will eventually find her way back to you. You two are soul mates, two halves of the perfect whole, and all that other romantic junk." Stefan assured him. "What is meant to be will always find a way, no matter what."

…

"Hey, Sweetheart," Jason greeted Elena as he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "You sounded upset on the phone are you okay?"

"Jason, there is something that I need to tell you," Elena started. She was finally ready to do something that she should have a very long time ago… tell the truth.

"Is everything alright?" Jason's voice was full of worry as he sat down next to her.

"I haven't been completely honest with you, or anyone for that matter." Elena told him as she nervously played with her engagement ring. "I called you hear to finally tell you the truth."

"Elena," Jason started to stop her from going any further, but she put her hand on his mouth and stopped him from talking. He could see that whatever she was going to say wasn't going to be good. She already had tears forming in her eyes as she took a deep breath.

"A few weeks ago I hooked up with Damon, my soon-to-be ex-husband." Elena started as she watched Jason go from confused to heartbroken to angry. "We were drunk and it was a mistake. I never intended on it happening, but it did and you have every right to know."She waited for Jason to start yelling at her, but he remained quiet.

"You are so wonderful and I really do love you, but I have treated you awful because I was afraid of my past." Elena continued. "You deserve someone that can treat you the way you have treated me. I am so sorry for all the hurt that I have caused you." Elena slipped the diamond ring off of her finger and placed it in Jason's hand. "I hope you find someone that can make you so happy, I'm so sorry that it couldn't be me." Elena got up to walk away, but Jason pulled her back down towards him.

"I'm not going to say that I am okay with all of this, because I am definitely not, but I still love you and I want to make this work. When I put that ring on your finger, I meant that I wanted you forever, through the good and the bad times." He tried to put the ring back on Elena's hand, but she pulled away from him.

"I can't." She said as she stood up once more. "Believe me, I want to, but I don't deserve you. I have hurt you and so many other people and I don't deserve a happily ever after." She bent down and placed on last kiss on his forehead. "I am so sorry, Jason. I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me someday."

…

Elena felt empty as she walked into Jenna's house. She had come back to Mystic Falls with a bright future, but now she had nothing. There was a part of her that felt relieved because it was the first time she had ever been completely on her own. She had been with Damon since she was a young girl and before she met Jason she was just completely lost and broken, but now she was finally on her own. It was her chance to completely start over. She had taken care of the skeleton in her closet and now she could move on and not have any more deep dark secrets to hide.

"How did things go with Jason?" Jenna appeared in the living and snapped Elena from her thoughts.

"We broke up." Elena told her. "Actually, I broke up with him. He deserved better than what I had put him through and I knew that it was best if I just ended things."

"I am sorry that you had to do that." Jenna tried to comfort her. "I know that you will be able to move on from this and your life will turn back around."

"I don't think so, Aunt Jenna. The truth is that I am still in love with Damon. My heart had always belonged to him, but I messed up things so bad and I can't fix them." Elena let a tear fall down her face as Jenna pulled her into a hug.

"You can still work things out with him." Jenna said. "He loves you so much and I'm sure that he would love to give things another try."

"I know that Damon would take me back, but I don't deserve his love or forgiveness. He deserves to be happy and so far all I have brought him is pain. I think it is better for him if I just go back to New York and let him move on with his life."

"I think that you should at least tell Damon goodbye and tell him how you feel before you go running back to New York." Jenna told her pulling away from Elena. "You own it to both of you."

"I guess I better call him and ask him to meet me somewhere." Elena said as she stood up from the couch. "Wish me luck."

"I am wishing for more than that, but don't worry everything will work out." Jenna said as she watched Elena dial her cell phone.

Elena was about to hang up after the first five rings, but finally Damon answered the phone. "Damon." Elena said into the phone trying her best not to sound nervous. "Yes, Elena." Damon answered.

"Hey, I really need to talk to you. Can you meet me out by the lake?" Elena asked. The lake had always been the place that they would go to talk. It seemed so peaceful and they had just enjoyed being alone at the lake when they were younger.

"Sure," Damon said his voice sounded cheerful as he answered her question. They both agreed to meet at the lake as soon as possible before hanging up the phone.

….

"Who was that?" Stefan asked as he watched Damon put the phone in his pocket and rush around the house looking for his shoes.

"Elena said she needed to talk to me." Damon said as he quickly put on his shoes.

"I don't want to say I told you so, but I told you so." Stefan said as he let out a laugh. "Congratulations, Big Brother. I can wait to meet your offspring!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, she just wanted to talk." Damon said trying not to get his hopes up. Sure he would love to hear that Elena was having his child and she wanted to start their life over, but he knew that Elena was stubborn and she would do what she wanted no matter who she had to hurt in the process. He knew in his heart that she still cared for him and that even though she had hurt it, it had never been her intention.

"We will see," Stefan said as Damon walked out the front door. Stefan had always been Damon and Elena's biggest supporter. After Elena had left Stefan had helped Damon get through it. He also said that one day Elena would come to her senses and come running back because they were meant to be. Stefan had always been a big believer of fate, destiny, and all that other hopeless romantic stuff.

….

Damon entered the grill and looked around trying to find Elena. Normally, she would be sitting at the bar trying to calm her nervous by ordering whatever alcohol she could get her hands on, but this time she was nowhere near the bar. He finally spotted her over in a booth in a small quite corner. He could tell by her face that she had been crying and she was very upset about whatever she wanted to talk to him about.

"Hey," Damon greeted her as he sat down in the booth. "You okay?" He asked as she nodded silently.

"I just needed to talk to you." Elena said. She felt like she was going to throw up at the thought of tell Damon goodbye again. Their relationship had been a complicated one, but she had always loved him. She didn't want to say goodbye, but for the first time in the last five years she was trying not to be selfish.

"Is this about the pregnancy?" Damon asked. He hadn't meant for it to slip out of his mouth, but he was dying to know and couldn't keep it to himself anymore.

"How did you know about that?" Elena asked.

"Stefan told me that he ran into you as you were buying the test." Damon confessed. "He said that you didn't want him to tell anyone, so he figured it was my child. So are you having my baby?"

"No." Elena answered. "It was just a false alarm."

"Oh." It was all Damon could think to say. He felt disappointed. He had hoped that this was the answer to his prayers. That finally Elena would be his again, but now he knew that it was never going to happen. "I'm so sorry, Elena."

"It is for the best. I mean we don't want to bring a baby into an already messed up situation." She said as she let out a bitter laugh. "Besides it wasn't going to fix our mess. We are never going to be Damon and Elena again, so it is best if we just move on."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Damon sighed. Everything in him wanted to scream at her for being so stubborn. Why couldn't she see that he wanted to make it work with her, that he would do anything just to have her back in his arms again?

"The reason I asked you to meet with me is because I wanted to tell you goodbye." Elena told him. "I figured that I at least owed you a proper goodbye this time."

"Where are you going?" Damon asked.

"Back to New York," She answered. "Jason and I are over and you and I are over, so I figured it was time to go back and get on with my life."

"You don't have to leave, you know?" Damon said trying desperately to hold on to what little they had left. "I'm sure that your family would love to have you stay here and I know that I would love it too."

"I can't do that to you." Elena said just barely above a whisper. "I have hurt you so much and I know that you still love me, but I have to let you move on. You deserve to be happy and to forget about all the pain that I have put you through. I love you, Damon. I will always love you, but I can't be selfish anymore. I can't hang around here and keep you from living a life that you deserve." Elena was on the verge of tears as she finished.

"I don't want to move on, Elena. I want to be with you forever. We have both messed up. We have hurt each other. We have made mistakes. But now all I want is to move on from our past and get to our future. I don't care that you have hurt me because I love you. Love is crazy and confusing, but it is love and when it's real you just can't walk away from it." Damon watched as tears started to fall down Elena's face. He knew that he was starting to get through to her, but she was still going to be stubborn about this.

"I'm so sorry, Damon." Elena said as she stood up from the booth and gathered her belongings. She could barely hear what Damon was saying because of the wave of dizziness that hit her. She felt as if everything around was spinning around her and she couldn't get it to stop. Before the darkness took over she heard Damon's voice. "Somebody call 911!" She could feel his body next to hers, but she couldn't answer his question. "Elena, are you okay?"

A/N: Cliffhanger! Hey guys! I am sorry that I haven't updated in awhile, I have been busy. Anyway, I hope that you liked this chapter. Thank you so much for all the reviews. Please let me know what you think about this chapter and what you think is going on with Elena. Just a heads up, I think that there are only going to be two more chapters in this story. I feel like there isn't a whole lot more storyline to tell with this story. I am considering doing a sequel, so let me know if it is something that you would be interested in. I am also going to be starting a new story here in the next few weeks, so be on the lookout for that. Once again, thank you guys so much for all the wonderful reviews. Hopefully, you guys don't hate Elena too much. She is trying to do what she thinks is right, but we all know she is wrong. Haha.


	12. Chapter 12

A crowd of worried voices and ambulance sirens is all that Elena could hear as she finally came to. It took her a few seconds to realize that she was flat on her back on the floor of The Grill. Trying to escape the embarrassment she quickly sat up only to be gently pushed back down by Damon. She could see the fear in his eyes as he tried to get her to lie back down. The last time she had seen this fear in his eyes was right after she had had her car accident.

"Just stay still, Elena." Damon said as he pushed some stray hair out of her face. "The ambulance is on the way." She could tell that he was starting to calm down now that she was awake. "Everything is going to be okay."

Elena tried to close her eyes and relax, but it was hard when most of the people in Mystic Falls were hovering over her. All she wanted to do was disappear. She tried to focus on that fact that she was leaving the next day and she could put this all behind her.

Ten minutes later she was being placed on a stretcher and taken away in the back of an ambulance truck. It was an all too familiar feeling for Elena. The memories started to race back to her mind as she prayed for the ride to be over. A warm hand gave her a gentle squeeze causing her to snap out of her thoughts. She had been so distracted by the ciaos around her that she hadn't noticed that Damon was sitting next to her holding her hand.

"Damon," Elena croaked out. It was the first time since she had come to that she had even tried to speak. "Damon, what is going on?" She already knew the answer, but everything that had happened was still a complete blur in her mind.

"Shh," Damon tried to sooth her as he placed his hand on her forehead. "You just passed out and hit your head on the floor of The Grill. We are on our way to the hospital to have you check out, but everything is going to be fine."

Elena remained quiet for the remainder of the ride. She could feel her heart finally start to slow down and her whole body slowly relaxed as she waited for the paramedics to unload her and take her into the emergency room section of the hospital.

…..

Damon paced back and forth of the waiting room as he waited for the doctor to come out and explain what was going on with Elena. It had been at least an hour and still no word on what they were doing with her.

"Damon, maybe you should sit down. Alaric suggested as he placed his hand on Damon's shoulder.

"I don't feel like sitting down." Damon said. "I need to be up and moving or else I am going to go crazy waiting." Alaric nodded understanding that Damon needed to keep walking.

"She is going to be alright, you know." Stefan said as he walked up to his brother. "I already told you what is wrong with her, she is having Damon Jr."

"She said that the test was negative, so it must be something else." Damon said as he kept pacing. "This is driving me crazy!" he practically shouted as the whole waiting room stared up at him. "Sorry." He mumbled.

"Damon, she is fine, she just passed out." Stefan said trying his best to comfort his older brother.

"I know, it's just… the last time I was here…" Damon started to lose it as he spoke. "The last time… I just can't lose her. I know that she doesn't want to be my wife anymore, but I need her to at least be alive… that is enough for me." Stefan nodded and started pacing back and forth along with Damon.

After two hours of waiting the doctor finally made his way out into the waiting room. He couldn't even get any words out of his mouth before Damon was next to him. "How is she?" Damon asked.

"She is asking for you." The doctor said before motioning Damon down the hallway leading towards Elena's room. "I will give you two a few minutes." He said before walking down the hall.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Damon asked as he sat down in the chair next to the hospital bed. It killed him to see Elena in a hospital bed again. She looked pale and really weak, not like his Elena.

"I am tired and embarrassed." Elena answered. "I can't believe that I passed out like that."

"I think everybody just thought that you were trying to take a nap." Damon joked as a small smile appeared on her face. "That is what I like to see!" He told her as he grabbed her hand.

"Thank you for staying with me." She said. She was amazed that he had been with her through all of this even after everything she had put him through. "You have been so amazing and I know that I don't deserve it."

"I know that you think you have done the unforgivable, but it wasn't all just you." Damon told her. "It takes two people to make a marriage work. I should have chased after you, but I just waited around for you to come back."

"I should have come back." Elena sighed. "There were so many times when I wanted to, but I could never find the courage to face you. I figured that you would've moved on and I didn't want to see that. I cried every day after I left. You have to know that it wasn't easy to walk away from you." She felt fresh tears fall from her face. "When I came back, I thought that you would sign the papers and I could just move on, but I found that you are still just as in love with me as I am with you."

Damon could no longer fight the urge to kiss her as she confessed her feelings for him. He leaned over and met her lips with his. It was a soft sweet kiss, but they could both feel the love that they shared. They pulled apart as they heard a soft knock at the door.

"Sorry to interrupt." The doctor said making Elena blush. "I have the results from all of your tests."

"Is everything okay?" Damon asked as worry filled his voice once more.

"Everything is just fine, daddy." The doctor said as he waited for Damon to realize what he had just said.

"Great," Damon said as he sighed with relief. "Wait… what… did… daddy?" Damon tried to get the words to come out of his mouth, but his mind just wasn't registering.

"Congratulations, you're pregnant!" The doctor said before leaving the couple alone to process the news.

"I guess the test was wrong." Elena said as she tried to wrap her mind around what the doctor had said. She knew that it was definitely a possibility, but now it was a reality. She felt overwhelmed with everything. Her relationship with Damon was still so complicated and now they were about to bring a baby into the mix.

"A baby." Damon mumbled to himself as he continued to process everything out in his head. "Elena, we are having a baby!" He almost shouted as he jumped up from his seat and hugged her neck. "A baby!"

"You're not mad?" Elena questioned as she watched Damon practically dance around the room. She was sure that he would be upset by the news, but instead he was bouncing around with pure joy.

"I am having a baby with the woman that I love more than life itself! Why on earth would I be upset?" Damon asked as he made his way back over to his seat next to her.

"We are having a baby and are in the middle of getting a divorce. I don't think that this exactly screams happy family." She told him as tears threatened to fall from her face. She knew that all of the crying was just because of the hormones, but she was still frustrated with the fact that she always seemed to be crying.

"Do you still love me?" Damon asked her as he took her hand in his. The look on his face got very serious as he waited for her to answer.

"Yes," she answered as she watched a big smile spread on his face. "But that still doesn't change what I have done to you or make up for how awful I have been."

"Elena, I forgive you. I love you more than anything and I want to spend the rest of my life showing you that. Please forgive yourself and let me love you again." Damon said as he brought his hand to her cheek.

"O..okay," Elena stuttered. "Okay." She nodded as she let the tears fall from her face. "I love you, Damon. I love you so much." She said as she pulled his face to hers.

"I love you, too." Damon told her before kissing her once more.

A/N: I know that this chapter was kinda short, but I felt that it was appropriate to end it there. The next chapter is the last. Let me know how far in the future you want me to jump. Do you want to see the baby about to be born? Another Delena wedding? Both? Also, let me know if you would like me to write a sequel focusing on the little Delena family. : ) Thank you guys for all the wonderful reviews! I also started a new story called "True Love Never Dies". Please check it out and let me know what you guys think! Thank you so much!


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